Sen. Rand Paul has his eyes on Anthony Fauci, former chief medical advisor to the President of United States.
He shared on X on Monday that he will reissue his “criminal referral” of Fauci to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Today I will reissue my criminal referral of Anthony Fauci to Trump DOJ!” Paul wrote.
Paul announced in July 2023 an “official criminal referral” to the DOJ with regard to Fauci, alleging he lied to Congress regarding US-funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China.
The senator responded to a post on X regarding The New York Times’ recent report on former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen.
Fauci, among others, was pardoned by Biden in one of his final acts as president. It was a “full and unconditional” that extends back to Jan. 1, 2014, per the Associated Press.
Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, helped with the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He served under President Donald Trump during his first term, and as chief medical adviser to Biden until he retired.
Biden pushed back against intensifying scrutiny over his administration’s use of an autopen during the final weeks of his presidency, as IJR also reported on.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Biden stood firm on his decisions surrounding a sweeping clemency initiative that pardoned over 1,500 individuals.
“We’re talking about [granting clemency to] a whole lot of people,” Biden told the outlet.
Despite relying on the autopen, he emphasized, “I made every decision.”
Biden’s defense comes as new questions surface about just how much personal involvement he had in one of the largest acts of clemency in U.S. history. While he claimed full responsibility for the decisions, the Times reported that he “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people,” citing both Biden and his aides.
Instead, the report states, Biden “signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence,” allowing aides to handle the final vetting — and the autopen to handle the signature.
“Rather than ask Mr. Biden to keep signing revised versions, his staff waited and then ran the final version through the autopen, which they saw as a routine procedure, the aide said,” the Times reports.
The autopen process, while not new, has ignited a firestorm of controversy. Critics say its use by a sitting president — especially for sweeping executive actions — skirts transparency and opens the door to abuse.
