The controversy over former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to issue pardons in his final months in office is escalating, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggesting that former First Lady Jill Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci could become key subjects in a congressional investigation.
The probe, ordered by President Trump in June, seeks to examine the legitimacy of these mechanically signed pardons and could challenge the authority behind them.
Paul, a longtime critic of the autopen usage, especially for pardons, voiced his concerns on WABC 770 AM’s Cats Roundtable on Sunday and on Charlie Kirk’s program last week, questioning the validity of these official acts.
“Even though Anthony Fauci has been pardoned, there is some question whether it’s a legitimate pardon. His pardon wasn’t signed by President Biden,” Paul stated last week.
The Kentucky Republican’s concerns go beyond just the signature itself. He went on to reference testimony from people who actually operated the autopen, alleging they “never talked to the president, that they talked to an assistant that works for the president’s wife.”
That disclosure has strengthened Paul’s claim that the pardons might have been issued without sufficient oversight or even the former president’s direct knowledge. “It’s unclear whether President Biden is mentally cognizant enough of the situation to know who he pardoned,” Paul said.
The Kentucky Republican then voiced his alarm at the possibility that Joe Biden was clueless about many or even most of the pardons.
“Who knew that we weren’t being run by Joe Biden, but we were being run by some kind of chief of staff that worked for his wife,” Paul said. “That’s something to a lot of Americans to know that that person was granting power of pardons and could have taken the country to war and was never elected.”
Although former President Biden has defended the use of the autopen, noting its long-standing use by previous administrations for official paperwork, Republicans — led by President Trump — have remained unwavering in their criticism.
GOP lawmakers have sought testimony from multiple former White House staffers before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, with some reportedly invoking their Fifth Amendment rights.
Paul thinks that the best way to resolve the legal ambiguity is to take a pardoned individual to court.
“I think the easiest way to get this into court is they should indict Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress, and he will make a defense that he’s been pardoned,” Paul said.
Paul highlighted an important distinction: the pardon for Hunter Biden was reportedly signed by hand rather than using an autopen.
“Interestingly, when he had to do the pardon for his son, he didn’t take any chances by running it for the autopen,” Paul said, pointing out what is an obvious discrepancy between that pardon and the dozens of others that were signed via autopen.
Paul isn’t the only GOP senator demanding answers regarding the prolific use of the autopen during Biden’s last days in office.
Sen Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) took action in late June to uncover what he called one of the most damning scandals in U.S. history
Schmitt demanded access to sealed Biden autopen records after former Biden official Neera Tanden admitted she was in control of it for over a year and a half.
Tanden, who served as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, gave closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday. Under oath, she admitted that she was the one authorized to use Joe Biden’s autopen from October 2021 until May 2023.
Tanden testified that not only was she authorized to use the autopen, but she could also direct its use. She denied any wrongdoing but admitted something jaw-dropping: she used the autopen without direct confirmation from Biden himself, The Washington Examiner reported.