Journalist Matt Taibbi said during an interview with former Fox News star Tucker Carlson on his podcast earlier this week that former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), and others could wind up backfiring under certain circumstances.

After Carlson asked for an explanation, Taibbi said that according to legal experts he has spoken with, the pardons would not, for instance, allow the recipients to plead the Fifth Amendment if Congress called them to testify.

“Now, once the pardon’s delivered, the person can’t plead the Fifth. If they are brought before a grand jury, they can’t take the Fifth anymore, or if they’re brought before a congressional committee, they can’t evoke their right against self-incrimination, so they have to say something,” the journalist explained.

“And this is what’s so interesting because I’ve been talking to criminal defense attorneys, people who are former Senate investigators, some current Senate investigators, and they all kind of said the same thing,” he said. “It’s so illogical to give somebody a pardon if you’re trying to cover up things that the only reason you would really do it is if there are very serious crimes involved, right?