Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is once again calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci—this time following explosive revelations that President Joe Biden may not have personally authorized the controversial pardon granted to the former NIAID director.

Paul’s second formal referral comes on the heels of a New York Times report that outlined how Biden’s autopen — a device used to affix his signature — was operated by White House staff, not the president himself, to execute a slew of last-minute pardons in the final hours of his presidency. Among those quietly pardoned? Dr. Fauci, the face of America’s COVID-era lockdown regime.

“In July 2023, I referred Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Department of Justice for lying under oath to Congress. His own emails directly contradicted his sworn testimony,” Sen. Paul said in a statement.

“The New York Times reports Fauci was quietly pardoned by an autopen, operated by Biden’s staff. If the President didn’t authorize this pardon personally, then the Department has a duty to investigate and prosecute as it would any ordinary citizen. Fauci has been sainted by the extremist Left, but it doesn’t erase his lying before Congress.”

The report paints a disturbing picture of a commander-in-chief increasingly out of the loop, as unelected bureaucrats and political staffers executed one of the most consequential acts of presidential power — granting immunity to controversial officials without direct sign-off from the president himself.

According to the Times, Chief of Staff Jeff Zients was the one who greenlit the use of the autopen for Fauci’s pardon. On January 19th, as Biden huddled with aides until nearly 10 p.m., a list of names for preemptive clemency was finalized and emailed to Zients.

At 10:31 p.m., Zients replied:

“I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”

That email effectively executed the pardon for Fauci—as well as for others, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley—without any documentation showing that Biden personally reviewed or approved each name.

The report admits Biden “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons,” relying instead on general “standards” laid out in prior discussions.

Senator Paul’s original referral stems from Fauci’s 2021 sworn testimony, in which he denied that U.S. tax dollars were used to fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Subsequent email disclosures have cast serious doubt on Fauci’s statements, suggesting he may have lied under oath.

Now, the Biden team’s last-minute pardon may have insulated Fauci from future prosecution just as new evidence was coming to light.

Even more troubling is the idea that Biden himself may have been unaware of the immunity granted in his name.

President Donald Trump responded forcefully to the report.

“I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing,” Trump said Monday. “This is possibly one of the biggest scandals that we’ve had in 50 to 100 years.”

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields echoed that concern, accusing the Biden administration of executing “the most egregious cover-up scheme in American politics.”

“The same president who lied through his teeth to the American people for four years about everything from his health to the state of the economy should not be trusted again,” Fields said in a statement to Fox News. “The truth will come out about who was, in fact, running the country.”