Overview

• Senator Rand Paul reissued his criminal referral of Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Trump Justice Department, renewing allegations that Fauci lied under oath about gain-of-function research funding.
• The action follows a New York Times report revealing that Chief of Staff Jeff Zients approved the use of an autopen to backdate preemptive pardons for Fauci, retired General Mark Milley and members of the Biden family.
• Emails show Zients replied all to a draft pardon summary just three minutes after it was circulated, writing, “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
• Rand Paul first issued a criminal referral in 2021 and renewed it in 2023 over Fauci’s funding of gain-of-function studies linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
• President Trump and Republican lawmakers have called for Justice Department investigations into both the autopen procedure and Fauci’s testimony, but the DOJ has yet to file any charges.