Republicans find key officials, including Fauci, served unlawfully


An investigation conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee reveals that 14 National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials, including former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, were not properly reappointed to their positions in December of 2021, as required by law.

Committee Chair Cathy Rodgers (R-Washington) along with Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia) began their investigation in March of 2022 and revealed their findings publicly in a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.

The Biden administration allegedly failed to correctly reappoint more than a dozen top-ranking National Institutes of Health leaders, House Republicans say, raising questions about the legality of billions in federal grants doled out by those officials over the last year. […]

The failure to reappoint the above NIH IC Directors jeopardizes the legal validity of more than $25 billion in federal biomedical research grants made in 2022 alone,” the committee wrote.[…]

Institute directors with discretion to award billions or even hundreds of millions in research funding are, by definition, exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States. As such, institute directors are the quintessential ‘inferior officers,'” a former senior HHS official told CBS News. 

The Secretary cannot delegate his or her constitutional authority to appoint inferior officers. It is my understanding that prior administrations of both parties zealously guarded the appointments process and took care to ensure that inferior officers were properly appointed,” said the former senior official, who previously served in the Bush, Reagan and Trump administrations.

Key excerpts of the letter sent to Secretary Becerra: 

“We write raising serious concerns about your failure to follow the law and ensure accountability of billions of dollars in taxpayer funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As detailed below, it has become apparent that you, as Secretary of Health and Human Services, did not reappoint a number of Institute and Center (IC) Directors at the NIH.

Your failure could have grave implications for the validity of actions taken by 14 NIH IC Directors during their unlawful tenure, including former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.” […] 

“The failure to reappoint the above NIH IC Directors jeopardizes the legal validity of more than $25 billion in federal biomedical research grants made in 2022 alone.” […] 

“Given his central role in the Covid-19 response, the Committee is particularly concerned about the failure to reappoint Dr. Fauci. Without reappointment, Dr. Fauci continued to serve as NIAID Director until his retirement on December 31, 2022. If Dr. Fauci was never reappointed, every action he took is potentially invalid.” […] 

“We also intend to get a full accounting of who at HHS and the NIH decided to mislead the Committee and why. HHS and the NIH’s bad faith and failure to follow the law in this matter epitomizes why Americans no longer trust federal public health agencies. Not only did HHS and NIH ignore the law, it is also grossly unfair that Dr. Fauci – who unlawfully held his position after December 13, 2021 – could use his authority to push authoritarian mandates on the American people during the Covid-19 pandemic response. Greater accountability is needed.”

Background: 

Under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, NIH IC Directors are inferior officers of the United States. Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in 2016. Section 2033 of the 21st Century Cures Act, titled Increasing Accountability at the National Institutes of Health, lays out the framework by which NIH IC Directors must be appointed and reappointed. 

Specifically, it requires the Secretary of HHS to reappoint NIH IC Directors, including those who were serving at the time of the law’s enactment when their five-year terms expired on December 12, 2021. 

The 21st Century Cures Act also requires NIH IC Directors “review and make the final decision with respect” to all competitive grant awards issued by their Institute or Center. This makes the NIH IC Directors the final decision maker on grant awards.

Key Finding

The Chairs’ investigation revealed that Secretary Becerra failed to reappoint these 14 NIH IC Directors, calling into question the validity of any decision made by a director between December 2021 and June 2023.

This includes the approval of billions of dollars in taxpayer funded grants—including to EcoHealth Alliance—and Covid-19-related guidance provided by Dr. Fauci to the White House.  

You can view the full letter here and letter attachments can be found here.

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10 thoughts on “Republicans find key officials, including Fauci, served unlawfully”

  1. So the five-year terms of these officials expired on December 12, 2021, and they were not properly reappointed according to law, and we’re just finding out about this in July of 2023?
    This raises the age old question about who’s at fault when a bank robber robs the same bank twice in the same month — the bank robber or the bank GUARDS.

  2. I can’t even begin to imagine the shoddy management and oversight of every single one of Biden’s cabinet picks – none were qualified to manage anything. And Joe offered zero discipline or direction. Let alone fiscal or mission accountability.

    The amount of internal graft and corruption to be found in every single Biden administrative agencies will be staggering.

    Is the 2024 Team, whomever that will be, ready to take this mop up job as job one on day one?

  3. HHS Secretary Xavier Bacerra is legally REQUIRED to have an Oath Of Office on file before he can legally perform ANY duties of his high office. Any actions taken by him without it on file are
    NULL And VOID!!!

    He does not have an Oath Of Office on file. Neither do most of Biden’s cabinet members.

    It’s all a charade.

    Wake up before it’s too late.

    Praise Jesus!!!

    Cowboy Jay

  4. So the UN, WEF, EU, Five Eyes, Deep State Shadow government. CIA ,FBI ,DOJ ,State Department , Pentagon ,Captured Media, AI Technocracy etc all just Far Right Tin Foil hat Conspiracy theories. OBAMA told us Globaliism was here folks. That’s why the Demented puppet in the White House and “sold their soul congressmen” exist as front men. The soft coup of the US is a done deal. Global chaos will be the result. The New World order has arrived. It will create the
    illusion of success while people die of vaccine derived all cause mortality,
    These Antichrists have deceived people with Climate Change Cultism, Wokism,
    Sophisticated bioweapons for population control. All designed by tax payer funded sociopaths in all Western Nations. It’s the post Christian world. .
    China was their most favoured mentor. Crouching tiger. Hidden Dragon.
    But It’s all Putins fault. According to the preferred narrative.
    Every Nation on earth have captured, compromised or deceived Leaders. And the poor in every Nation suffer first, then middle class, and finally the Elites last. God wins. But it’s going to be a rough ride going forward. The Messiah warned us about Lawlessness and Deception. We are here?☠️???️????️?

    1. You are so right. It’s so frightening that most people are so dumbed down and in denial about what is happening that I see no chance of this stopping unless the people rise up. Good luck with that!

  5. informed citizen

    An informed person might ask why these individuals would not swear an oath of office? Could it be to avoid being tried for treason when the truth of what they did becomes widely known and understood?

  6. Frank Lee Annoid

    I heard that Biden and all his administration also was not properly installed- they did not fill out the papers stating their Oath of Office(s). Unless they did, they were not valid- which means they have inhabited their offices unlawfully. Maybe Sharron can find out whether that is true or not….?

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