diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/depcheck_test.go b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/depcheck_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..39493e5a86c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/depcheck_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+//
+// Copyright 2021 The Sigstore Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package fulcio_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"knative.dev/pkg/depcheck"
+)
+
+func TestNoDeps(t *testing.T) {
+	depcheck.AssertNoDependency(t, map[string][]string{
+		"github.com/sigstore/cosign/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio": {
+			// Avoid pulling in a variety of things that are massive dependencies.
+			"github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go",
+			"github.com/google/trillian",
+			"github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane",
+			"github.com/gogo/protobuf/protoc-gen-gogo",
+			"github.com/grpc-ecosystem/go-grpc-middleware",
+			"github.com/jhump/protoreflect",
+		},
+	})
+}
diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio.go b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio.go
index 8ff9a832bed..7a69bddfbca 100644
--- a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio.go
+++ b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio.go
@@ -22,9 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"crypto/rand"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"crypto/x509"
-	_ "embed" // To enable the `go:embed` directive.
 	"encoding/base64"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"encoding/pem"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
@@ -32,10 +30,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/go-openapi/runtime"
 	httptransport "github.com/go-openapi/runtime/client"
 	"github.com/go-openapi/strfmt"
-	ct "github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go"
-	"github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/ctutil"
-	ctx509 "github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/x509"
-	"github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/x509util"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"golang.org/x/term"
 
@@ -60,15 +54,6 @@ type Resp struct {
 	SCT      []byte
 }
 
-// This is the CT log public key
-//go:embed ctfe.pub
-var ctPublicKey string
-
-var (
-	// For testing
-	VerifySCT = verifySCT
-)
-
 type oidcConnector interface {
 	OIDConnect(string, string, string) (*oauthflow.OIDCIDToken, error)
 }
@@ -136,34 +121,9 @@ func getCertForOauthID(priv *ecdsa.PrivateKey, scp signingCertProvider, connecto
 		SCT:      sct,
 	}
 
-	// verify the sct
-	if err := VerifySCT(fr); err != nil {
-		return Resp{}, errors.Wrap(err, "verifying SCT")
-	}
-	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Successfully verified SCT...")
 	return fr, nil
 }
 
-// verifySCT verifies the SCT against the Fulcio CT log public key
-// The SCT is a `Signed Certificate Timestamp`, which promises that
-// the certificate issued by Fulcio was also added to the public CT log within
-// some defined time period
-func verifySCT(fr Resp) error {
-	pubKey, err := cosign.PemToECDSAKey([]byte(ctPublicKey))
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	cert, err := x509util.CertificateFromPEM(fr.CertPEM)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	var sct ct.SignedCertificateTimestamp
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(fr.SCT, &sct); err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "unmarshal")
-	}
-	return ctutil.VerifySCT(pubKey, []*ctx509.Certificate{cert}, &sct, false)
-}
-
 // GetCert returns the PEM-encoded signature of the OIDC identity returned as part of an interactive oauth2 flow plus the PEM-encoded cert chain.
 func GetCert(ctx context.Context, priv *ecdsa.PrivateKey, idToken, flow, oidcIssuer, oidcClientID string, fClient *fulcioClient.Fulcio) (Resp, error) {
 	c := &realConnector{}
@@ -215,6 +175,7 @@ func NewSigner(ctx context.Context, idToken, oidcIssuer, oidcClientID string, fC
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "retrieving cert")
 	}
+
 	f := &Signer{
 		pub:                 &priv.PublicKey,
 		ECDSASignerVerifier: signer,
diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio_test.go b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio_test.go
index b3cd566f0c6..461eb16c3ab 100644
--- a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio_test.go
+++ b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcio_test.go
@@ -113,9 +113,6 @@ func TestGetCertForOauthID(t *testing.T) {
 				err: tc.tokenGetterErr,
 			}
 
-			VerifySCT = func(Resp) error { return nil }
-			defer func() { VerifySCT = verifySCT }()
-
 			resp, err := getCertForOauthID(testKey, tscp, &tf, "", "")
 
 			if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/ctfe.pub b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier/ctfe.pub
similarity index 100%
rename from cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/ctfe.pub
rename to cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier/ctfe.pub
diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier/fulcioverifier.go b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier/fulcioverifier.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f72f5d0ce3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier/fulcioverifier.go
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+//
+// Copyright 2021 The Sigstore Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package fulcioverifier
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	_ "embed" // To enable the `go:embed` directive.
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	ct "github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go"
+	"github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/ctutil"
+	ctx509 "github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/x509"
+	"github.com/google/certificate-transparency-go/x509util"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio"
+	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/pkg/cosign"
+	fulcioClient "github.com/sigstore/fulcio/pkg/generated/client"
+)
+
+// This is the CT log public key
+//go:embed ctfe.pub
+var ctPublicKey string
+
+// verifySCT verifies the SCT against the Fulcio CT log public key
+// The SCT is a `Signed Certificate Timestamp`, which promises that
+// the certificate issued by Fulcio was also added to the public CT log within
+// some defined time period
+func verifySCT(certPEM, rawSCT []byte) error {
+	pubKey, err := cosign.PemToECDSAKey([]byte(ctPublicKey))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	cert, err := x509util.CertificateFromPEM(certPEM)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var sct ct.SignedCertificateTimestamp
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(rawSCT, &sct); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "unmarshal")
+	}
+	return ctutil.VerifySCT(pubKey, []*ctx509.Certificate{cert}, &sct, false)
+}
+
+func NewSigner(ctx context.Context, idToken, oidcIssuer, oidcClientID string, fClient *fulcioClient.Fulcio) (*fulcio.Signer, error) {
+	fs, err := fulcio.NewSigner(ctx, idToken, oidcIssuer, oidcClientID, fClient)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// verify the sct
+	if err := verifySCT(fs.Cert, fs.SCT); err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "verifying SCT")
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Successfully verified SCT...")
+
+	return fs, nil
+
+}
diff --git a/cmd/cosign/cli/sign.go b/cmd/cosign/cli/sign.go
index 0a1fe33e680..da0731e047d 100644
--- a/cmd/cosign/cli/sign.go
+++ b/cmd/cosign/cli/sign.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/peterbourgon/ff/v3/ffcli"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
-	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio"
+	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/cmd/cosign/cli/fulcio/fulcioverifier"
 	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/pkg/cosign"
 	"github.com/sigstore/cosign/pkg/cosign/pivkey"
 	cremote "github.com/sigstore/cosign/pkg/cosign/remote"
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ func signerFromKeyOpts(ctx context.Context, certPath string, ko KeyOpts) (*certS
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "fetching ambient OIDC credentials")
 		}
 	}
-	k, err := fulcio.NewSigner(ctx, tok, ko.OIDCIssuer, ko.OIDCClientID, fClient)
+	k, err := fulcioverifier.NewSigner(ctx, tok, ko.OIDCIssuer, ko.OIDCClientID, fClient)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "getting key from Fulcio")
 	}