6 people who lied to Congress and what happened to them as Republicans accuse Anthony Fauci of perjury

Individuals who have been accused of lying to Congress as the GOP claims Anthony Fauci committed perjury

Dr Anthony Fauci, the former leading infectious disease expert who departed from his government position in 2022, testified before Congress on Monday, June 3, vehemently rejecting allegations by Republican representatives that he attempted to conceal the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, stating that such claims were "simply preposterous." A subcommittee led by the GOP has conducted a comprehensive investigation for a year into the nation’s response to the pandemic and the potential involvement of US-funded research in China in its origins, yet no evidence linking Fauci to any wrongdoing has been found. While Fauci had previously been extensively questioned behind closed doors for 14 hours over two days in January, his voluntary public testimony on Monday was marred by partisan attacks, with Republicans continuing to make unverified accusations against the esteemed National Institutes of Health scientist, while Democrats expressed regret over the tarnishing of his reputation. The core issue at hand remains centered around the belief held by many scientists that the virus most likely originated in nature, transmitting from animals to humans, potentially originating at a wildlife market in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak was first reported. There is currently no new scientific evidence supporting the alternative possibility that the virus might have leaked from a laboratory. A US intelligence analysis has indicated an insufficient quantity of evidence to definitively support either scenario, and a recent investigation by the Associated Press revealed that the Chinese government impeded crucial efforts to trace the origin of the virus in the initial weeks of the outbreak. Fauci has consistently maintained a public stance accommodating both theories, emphasizing that there is stronger evidence supporting Covid-19's natural origins, akin to the transmission of other deadly viruses such as the coronavirus relatives SARS and MERS. This position was reiterated during his testimony, in response to Republican lawmakers' inquiries regarding potential attempts to suppress the lab-leak theory or influence intelligence agencies. Moreover, Republicans have also levied allegations against Fauci, accusing him of providing false information to Congress by denying that his agency funded "gain of function" research – the act of manipulating a virus in a laboratory to study its potential real-world implications – at a lab in Wuhan. Regardless, here are a few select people who’ve been found to have lied to Congress, and the consequences they had to bear:

1. Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen, who has served as former President Donald Trump's long-term personal attorney, and recently appeared as a key witness in Trump’s New York hush money trial, was one of the select few individuals to face charges for lying to Congress. This offense, which is notoriously difficult to substantiate, encompasses not only making false statements while under oath but also extends to providing false information to Congress outside of a sworn testimony. Cohen's guilty plea to a single count of making false statements to the Senate Intelligence Committee during a closed-door session in 2017 centers around misrepresentations regarding the MAGA strongman's plans to construct a Trump Tower in Moscow. During his court appearance in 2018, Cohen confessed to repeatedly deceiving the congressional panel regarding the specifics of the project, including its timeline, his potential involvement in traveling to Russia, and encouraging the POTUS for a potential visit to the country.

2. W. Samuel Patten

In late August 2018, W Samuel Patten, a Washington-based American lobbyist, entered into a plea agreement, declaring guilty to the charge of failing to register as a foreign lobbyist. The agreement disclosed that he provided “false and misleading testimony” to the Senate Intelligence Committee during its Russia investigation in January, including misinformation about his representation of a foreign government in the US. The agreement further revealed that, following the interview with the panel, "Patten deleted documents pertinent to his relationships with the above-described foreign principals.” It is important to note that Patten was not charged with making false statements. Patten has not been sentenced for failing to register as a foreign agent and has committed to cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors.

3. Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens, a prominent Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees and Red Sox, who achieved the prestigious honor of winning the Cy Young Award seven times during his career, faced legal proceedings in 2010. A federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly providing false statements and committing perjury during his 2008 testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In his testimony, Clemens asserted that he had never used performance-enhancing substances such as human growth hormone or steroids. The potential consequences of these charges included a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a penalty of $1.5 million if convicted. Following an initial trial in 2011, which ended in a mistrial, Clemens was ultimately acquitted of all charges in the subsequent year.

4. HR Haldeman

HR Haldeman, the inaugural White House Chief of Staff under President Richard Nixon, was found guilty in 1975 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. These charges were related to his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee, which was investigating the cover-up of the Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters. Haldeman initially received a maximum sentence of 8 years but later saw it reduced to one to four years, ultimately serving 18 months. Similarly, John Mitchell, one of Nixon's attorney generals, served 19 months in prison for related offenses.

5. Harvey Matusow

During the 1950s, Harvey Matusow, a former Communist turned FBI informant, was found guilty of perjury before Congress. In his memoir, ‘False Lies’, Matusow confessed to falsely implicating 200 individuals as Communists or Communist sympathizers during his testimony to congressional lawmakers. Despite facing a potential penalty of up to 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, he was ultimately sentenced to five years, of which he served 44 months.

6. Caspar Weinberger

Caspar Weinberger, a former United States Secretary of Defense, was indicted on felony charges in 1992 for providing false statements to Congress regarding his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration. This scandal involved the unauthorized sale of arms to Iran to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Weinberger, along with other Reagan administration officials, including Clair George, the Deputy Director of Operations at the CIA, and John Poindexter, the National Security Advisor, was among those charged with perjury before Congress. Weinberger's trial was pending when President George HW Bush granted him and five other implicated advisers, including George, full pardons, while an appeals court overturned Poindexter's conviction.