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Jill Biden and Anthony Fauci could be examined as part of the probe into the widespread use of autopen during the Biden Presidency, Senator Rand Paul said on Sunday.
President Trump ordered an investigation into the use of autopen to issue presidential pardons by his predecessor, and GOP lawmakers have requested interviews with a number of senior Biden administration officials. A number have already appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, with some pleading the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions.
“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 said during an appearance on “Cats Roundtable” with John Catsimatidis.
“It’s unclear whether President Biden is mentally cognizant enough of the situation to know who he pardoned. Hundreds and hundreds of people were pardoned in a day by a mechanical signature from a machine. We do know there’s been testimony from the people running the machine that they never talked to the president, that they talked to an assistant that works for the president’s wife,” Paul added.
Senator Paul said it was imperative for the American people to know who was really running the country if it wasn’t Joe Biden.
“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. 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,” Paul said.
“So I think the way the best way to sort this out is you have to go to court. And 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 also reminded listeners that the autopen was not used to pardon Hunter Biden.
“I think there is a question whether these pardons are valid. Interestingly, when he had to do the pardon for his son, he didn’t take any chances by running it for the auto pen,” Paul.
“The pardon for Hunter Biden for any crimes committed over the last 10 years, any crimes, was done by personal hand signature by Biden, not the autopen.”
Biden recently gave a rare interview to The New York Times and said “I approved every decision” with regard to the use of autopen, which is a stand-in for a direct signature from the president himself.
The former president said autopen was used to grant a large number of pardons at the end of his term, including pardons for his family, because “we’re talking about a whole lot of people.”
The Times obtained emails that show how, after Biden met with aides the day before President Trump’s inauguration, Democrat chief of staff Jeff Zients sent an email to aides saying, “I approve the use of autopen for the execution of all the following pardons,” followed by a list of pardons.
Biden denied that any of the pardons were made without his approval.
“I made every single one of those. I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so — yes, I made every decision.”
Senate and House Republicans and the Department of Justice are investigating whether Biden’s mental capacity affected his ability to exercise his office while president. In particular, they have been investigating whether autopen was used to sign off on measures without President Biden’s full awareness.
In response to the interview, House Oversight Chairman James Comer said, “The House Oversight Committee will continue pursuing answers about this historic scandal to prevent such an abuse from happening again.”
