President Joe Biden, in an extraordinary move, granted former federal health official Anthony Fauci a pre-emptive pardon. While Fauci faces criticism for all sorts of things — mostly pushing localities and institutions into overly strict lockdowns and unending mask mandates — he might have been in legal trouble because it looks like tried to cover up the origins of COVID-19, and his own agency’s involvement with the Chinese research on coronaviruses.

Specifically, Fauci, who ran the infectious-disease operation of the National Institutes of Health, could have faced prosecution for lying to Congress, which is a federal crime.