Ed Martin, the incoming Department of Justice pardon attorney and director of the DOJ's Weaponization Working Group, announced last week that he was looking into the questionable "autopen" pardons issued in the final days of the Biden White House. It turns out, however, that he began digging into the matter while still the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Martin revealed on Tuesday that his investigation into the use of the autopen has actually been underway for weeks; that he has reached out to members of the Biden family; that some persons of interest have "lawyered up"; and that a whistleblower has already come forward with some troubling allegations.

"I had a whistleblower in my office 10 day ago — senior, senior Democrat — saying, 'Look, it was these three people that controlled access, and they were making money off of it,'" Martin told journalist Mark Halperin on the "2WAY Tonight" show. "I don't know if I believe it yet, but the point is, I think, we have to get to the bottom of it for the American people and to protect the process, and that's what we're doing."

Martin indicated that the whistleblower was involved with the 2020 Biden campaign at the highest levels.

'There's no question that Ed Martin is on the case.'

When pressed on the identity of the three alleged exploiters of the presidential autopen, Martin noted he had to answer carefully. Rather than explicitly identify potential abusers of the autopen, Martin provided Halperin with the names of "gatekeepers" who were "dominant characters in the White House."

Martin identified the following three "gatekeepers": Ron Klain, Biden's White House chief of staff from 2021 to 2023 who returned to the fold last year amid Biden's debate preparation; former senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn; and Barack Obama's former personal attorney Robert Bauer.

The DOJ's pardon attorney subsequently threw two more names into the mix — Steve Ricchetti, former counselor to Biden who previously served as chairman of his 2020 presidential campaign, and "obviously Jill [Biden]."

Martin told Halperin that he asked the whistleblower about the involvement of Susan Rice or others, but "they said, 'No, these were the ones.'"

RELATED: Justice is coming for Biden's 'autopen' pardons — and Trump's DOJ just put everyone on notice

 Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The Oversight Project revealed in early March that Biden's signature on numerous pardons, executive orders, and other documents of national consequence was likely machine-generated.

The watchdog group later confirmed that "the same exact Biden autopen signature" was used on the pardons for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee.

These revelations — in conjunction with reports of staffers and family members making decisions on Biden's behalf; evidence that Biden's signature appeared on documents while he was on vacation; Biden's alleged admission to having no recollection of a consequential January 2024 order to pause decisions on exports of liquefied natural gas; and a former Biden aide's claim that a key Biden staffer was suspected of unilaterally making decisions to sign documents as the former president's mental faculties declined — kicked off the firestorm that ultimately prompted the Trump administration to take a closer look.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "There's no question that Ed Martin is on the case. As both the pardon attorney and President Trump's weaponization czar, he is uniquely positioned to answer the question everyone is asking, 'Who was the president during the Biden years?'"

"We are thrilled that the president and Martin are taking up our autopen investigation with such zeal," added Howell.

'They stole the Presidency of the United States, and put us in Great Danger.'

Blaze News reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Just hours before Martin shed additional light on the investigation underway, President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that those who exploited former President Joe Biden's cognitive impairment and allegedly "took over the Autopen" were guilty of "TREASON at the Highest Level."

"Joe Biden was not for Open Borders, he never talked about Open Borders, where criminals of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, can flow into our Country at will," wrote the president. "It wasn't his idea to Open the Border, and almost destroy our Country, and cost us Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to get criminals out of our Country, and go through the process we are going through now. It was the people that knew he was cognitively impaired, and that took over the Autopen. They stole the Presidency of the United States, and put us in Great Danger."

'This is the biggest scandal in American history.'

Trump added, "Something very severe should happen to these Treasonous Thugs that wanted to destroy our Country, but couldn't, because I came along."

RELATED: Joe Biden was a puppet, not a president. So who signed the pardons?

 Photo by Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Newsmax Tuesday that the House Oversight Committee will also look into autopen use in the Biden White House, stating, "We don't believe Joe Biden knew what was going on."

"We're going to try to get to the bottom of this because this is the biggest scandal in American history," said Comer. "Not only do you have a president whose family was on the take from our adversaries around the world, you also have a situation where some of those family members were possibly, and I would go even further and say, probably running the country."

Lindy Li, a former Democratic strategist and fundraiser who served as a surrogate for failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris and worked for the 2020 Biden campaign, identified a potential usurper earlier this year whose name Martin's whistleblower appears to have omitted: Hunter Biden.

Li told the eponymous host of the "Shawn Ryan Show" podcast in February that after Joe Biden's humiliating debate with Trump, Hunter Biden, Jill Biden, and a handful of other unelected senior advisers were effectively serving as a combined shadow president.

Li's suspicions echoed those expressed by Trump to Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck in October, namely that Joe Biden was effectively little more than a figurehead for a "committee" of unnamed bureaucrats.

Comer noted further Tuesday, "We don't believe that autopen was authorized by Joe Biden."

"We don't believe that using the autopen makes these executive orders and even these pardons legal," continued Comer. "We're going to do this investigation. Hopefully, it will benefit Trump in court as he tries to do what the American people want done. And that's drain the swamp."

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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