Senator Rand Paul’s latest criminal referral of Dr. Anthony Fauci now collides with a bombshell revelation: President Biden’s White House used an autopen to issue Fauci’s pardon—leaving millions asking if the pardon is even legal, or just another slap in the face to Americans demanding accountability.
Sen. Paul’s Relentless Pursuit of Accountability
Senator Rand Paul has made it his mission to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable ever since the earliest days of the pandemic. Paul’s accusations aren’t new: he’s claimed time and again that Fauci lied under oath about U.S. funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Despite two prior criminal referrals—one in 2021, another in 2023—Fauci escaped prosecution, shielded by a Department of Justice run by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. Paul’s latest move, announced publicly on July 14, 2025, comes in direct response to explosive reporting that calls into question the very legitimacy of Fauci’s get-out-of-jail-free card: his presidential pardon, apparently rubber-stamped by a machine while Biden’s staff ran the show.
Paul isn’t letting this go, and why should he? For years, Americans watched as unelected bureaucrats like Fauci enjoyed immunity while citizens lost businesses, jobs, and freedoms to policies shaped behind closed doors. Paul’s renewed referral lands on the desk of new Attorney General Pam Bondi, who must now decide whether the DOJ will finally act where her predecessor refused. The Kentucky senator, for his part, insists, “Perjury is a crime. And Fauci must be held accountable.” His persistence is a stark reminder that bureaucrats shouldn’t be above the law—no matter how the previous administration tried to protect them.
Biden’s Autopen Pardon: Legal, or Just Another Executive Overreach?
The real shocker in this saga isn’t just the latest referral—it’s how Fauci’s pardon was delivered. Instead of a presidential signature, White House staff used an autopen, a mechanical device meant for signing routine correspondence, not for issuing full, unconditional pardons in high-stakes scandals. According to a blockbuster New York Times exposé, several last-minute pardons in Biden’s final days were issued this way, with no documented evidence that Biden himself even reviewed or approved the decisions. It’s the kind of bureaucratic maneuver that leaves Americans shaking their heads and wondering who’s really in charge.
Multiple people from the NIH testified that gain-of-function research was happening, directly contradicting Dr. Fauci’s position that this dangerous research was not taking place. We also have testimony from those who received these funds for the research.
There’s no doubt that… pic.twitter.com/xvThcFtgyN
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 15, 2025
Biden claims, “I made every single one of those [clemency decisions],” but that’s not what the paper trail—or lack thereof—suggests. Legal experts, meanwhile, are split on whether using autopen for pardons is constitutional. Previous administrations debated autopen use for mundane documents, but never for something as consequential as clemency. In a government that’s supposed to run on transparency and accountability, an unsigned, staff-driven pardon for one of the pandemic’s most controversial figures doesn’t just fail the smell test—it sets a dangerous precedent for executive overreach and bureaucratic gamesmanship.
Constitutional Questions and Political Fallout
The consequences of this controversy are already rippling through Washington and beyond. At stake is not only whether Fauci will finally face legal scrutiny, but whether the office of the president can bypass accountability altogether through a mechanical signature. Attorney General Bondi and the DOJ are under the microscope as pressure mounts from congressional Republicans and a public sick of double standards. The scandal also delivers more ammunition to President Trump and his supporters, who have long warned about unchecked executive power and the erosion of constitutional principles.
Dr. Fauci admitted in HIS OWN EMAILS that he PLANNED the ‘Pandemic’…THE PARDON SHOULD BE VOID FOR THIS MONSTER… pic.twitter.com/Yel4AJ5Gop
— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) July 14, 2025
Partisan tensions are at a fever pitch. Republicans see an opportunity to expose Biden’s shortcuts and restore integrity to the executive branch, while Democrats scramble to defend a process that looks increasingly indefensible. Legal scholars predict the courts may ultimately decide whether the autopen pardon stands or falls, potentially setting a historic precedent. At the same time, public trust in government transparency and scientific leadership hangs in the balance. If Fauci’s pardon is tossed, it could open the door to prosecutions—and a long-overdue reckoning with the bureaucratic class that dictated pandemic policy.
Sources:
Fox News: Held Accountable: Sen. Rand Paul again vows to issue criminal referral for Fauci
Washington Times: Rand Paul to reissue criminal referral of Anthony Fauci after report on autopen
Senate Press Release: Senator Rand Paul re-refers Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Department of Justice
Washington Examiner: Rand Paul refers Fauci to Department of Justice