A growing scandal over Joe Biden’s final months in office is taking a dramatic turn, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) warns that former First Lady Jill Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci may become central figures in a congressional investigation into the legitimacy of dozens of presidential pardons.

The probe, ordered by President Donald J. Trump in June, is digging into Biden’s use of an autopen — a mechanical signature device — to issue pardons, raising serious questions about whether these acts were even constitutionally valid.

Paul, a longtime critic of the practice, said during appearances on WABC 770 AM’s Cats Roundtable and The Charlie Kirk Show that some of these pardons may not hold up in court.

“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.

According to Paul, testimony from autopen operators suggests they never communicated with Biden directly — instead taking instructions from an assistant working for the First Lady. “It’s unclear whether President Biden is mentally cognizant enough of the situation to know who he pardoned,” Paul said, warning that the former president may have been entirely unaware of key decisions.

Paul didn’t mince words about the potential implications:
“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,” he 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.”

While Biden defenders point to the autopen’s use in past administrations for signing documents, Republicans — led by President Trump — have blasted its use for something as serious as pardons. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has already called multiple former Biden staffers to testify, with some invoking the Fifth Amendment.

Paul suggested one sure way to settle the matter: test the validity of a pardon in 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,” he said.

Notably, Paul pointed out that Hunter Biden’s pardon was signed by hand, not by autopen — a telling contrast to the dozens of others Biden approved mechanically.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) is also demanding answers. In June, he called the autopen scandal “one of the most damning” in U.S. history and demanded access to sealed records. His push came after a stunning admission from former Biden official Neera Tanden.

Testifying under oath to the House Oversight Committee, Tanden admitted she controlled Biden’s autopen from October 2021 to May 2023 — and even used it without confirming decisions directly with Biden. Though she denied wrongdoing, the revelation bolsters GOP claims that unelected staff — and possibly even Jill Biden — were effectively exercising presidential powers behind closed doors.

With Trump’s investigation now in full swing, Republicans say the country is only beginning to uncover the extent of what happened — and who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House.