DOJ pardon attorney doubts validity of Biden autopen pardons as nullification campaign picks up steam



The campaign to throw out the Biden-era pardons for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, and other controversial figures appears to be gaining momentum — and the Office of the Pardon Attorney made clear this week that it's onboard.

The House Oversight Committee alleged in its damning 100-page report on Tuesday that senior Biden staffers not only worked desperately to conceal the former president's rapid mental deterioration but usurped his authority with the help of the presidential autopen — a machine used to affix Biden's signature to a host of controversial executive actions and pardons.

'In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties.'

"As President Biden was losing command of himself throughout his time in office, his executive actions — especially pardons, of which there are many — cannot all be deemed his own," said the report. "The authority to grant pardons is not provided to the president’s inner circle. Nor can it be delegated to particular staff when a president’s competency is in question."

Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) concluded that unauthorized executive actions signed by autopen were "null and void," then asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the validity of all executive actions taken during Biden's time in office.

Bondi confirmed on Tuesday that a review of the autopen use for pardons during the Biden era is underway.

Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney at the DOJ, suggested in a letter on Monday to Comer that his investigation into the matter has turned up "disturbing findings" such that his office "cannot support the validity and ongoing legal effect of pardons and commutations issued during the Biden administration without further examination."

In the letter obtained by CNN, Martin suggested that Biden's admission to the New York Times that he "did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people" by itself "seems to raise serious questions of whether those commutations are valid."

RELATED: Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold

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Martin indicated that doubt over the validity of the commutations is further compounded by the suggestion in former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer's communications with the Biden White House that the autopenned commutations issued on Jan. 17 in the former president's name were legally flawed.

The pardon attorney raised other "defects" concerning the pardon process, particularly in the final weeks of the administration.

"My office cannot support the validity of AutoPen pardons for individuals such as Anthony Fauci, Adam Schiff, Mark Milley, and many more without further examination and fact-finding," wrote Martin. "In my tenure here, I have not seen any evidence supporting the theory that President Biden was personally aware and authorized these AutoPen'd pardons."

Martin, who alluded to a court ultimately weighing in on the validity of the pardons, told Comer, "If these pardons or commutations are challenged in any way, I recognize serious difficulties in defending them."

The Oversight Committee similarly foreshadowed a court voiding the pardons in its report, stating that "the Constitution is clear: 'The President shall ... have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.'"

The committee further quoted from a recent essay by constitutional scholar Philip Hamburger, a professor at Columbia Law School, which concluded, "The history confirms that the Constitution’s location of the pardon power is significant. The president must make the decisions, and the courts can hold pardons void if the decisions are made by others."

While the nullification campaign's success in the courts could spell disaster for Fauci, Milley, and others, some scholars have cast doubt on the likelihood of that outcome.

When asked whether the pardonees' convictions and legal vulnerabilities would be fully restored should their pardons be ruled invalid, Jeremy Paul, a professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law, told Blaze News, "In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties. I see this as extremely unlikely."

"If the DOJ attempted to impose punishment upon the affected individuals, the individuals would raise the pardons as a defense in federal court," continued Paul. "Lower courts would issue rulings. The case could end up in the Supreme Court but that Court would not be required to hear the case."

Paul expressed doubt about whether the pardons could be invalidated in the first place, stating, "Unless evidence emerges that DOJ officials granted pardons in express opposition to President Biden's wishes, which seems highly unlikely, I cannot see any basis on which pardons could be deemed invalid."

Bernadette Meyler, a Stanford Law School professor, suggested to CNN that one way to go about trying to void a pardon would be for Attorney General Bondi to "sue for a declaratory judgment that the pardons were invalid because of some form of impropriety in the signing of them, or in the giving of the pardon."

Blaze News has reached out to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for comment.

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Bondi has bad news for Fauci, Milley, and other Biden pardonees: DOJ is actively reviewing Biden-era autopen use



The House Oversight Committee published a damning 100-page report on Tuesday deeming invalid those executive actions and pardons issued without proper authorization and with machine-generated signatures in former President Joe Biden's name.

In a corresponding letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) noted that the committee had found "President Biden's aides coordinated a cover-up of the president's diminishing faculties" and "that these same aides utilized an ad hoc, inconsistent, and ineffective process to obtain President Biden's assent to certain key decisions, which raises significant questions about whether President Biden knew — let alone provided a decision regarding — the 'decisions' that, often through the use of an autopen, ultimately bore his signature."

Comer asked Bondi to investigate all executive actions taken during Biden's time in office "to ascertain whether they were duly authorized by the president of the United States."

Hours after the publication of the report and the committee's assertion that Biden's executive actions are "NULL and VOID," Bondi revealed on X that her "team has already initiated a review of the Biden administration's reported use of autopen for pardons."

President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on June 4 directing the White House Counsel's Office to investigate, in consultation with Bondi and the head of any other relevant agency, "whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president."

Trump specifically tasked the investigators with looking into the "circumstances surrounding Biden's supposed execution of numerous executive actions" and reviewing the policy documents for which the autopen was used, including clemency grants and executive orders.

RELATED: House committee declares unauthorized Biden autopen pardons 'void' in damning new report

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

The Oversight Project, a government watchdog group, concluded in a Monday report that after reviewing approximately 1,597 enrolled copies of documents bearing Biden's signature, 846 of 958 executive orders, pardons, commutations, and proclamations were signed with autopen.

Of the Biden-era documents analyzed, Oversight Project indicated that 75% of the pardons — including for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — and 51.8% of the commutations were signed with autopen.

'The "Pardons" that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.'

Bondi noted that Comer's "new information is extremely helpful, and his leadership on this issue is invaluable," adding that the DOJ will continue working with the House Oversight Committee "to deliver accountability for the American people."

Ed Martin, the DOJ's pardon attorney who announced a similar investigation into the matter of Biden's alleged pardons in May, responded to Bondi's statement with emojis signifying police and the scales of justice. Martin also suggested that the Oversight Project's statistics regarding autopen usage during the Biden administration warrant "closer review."

A determination that some or all of the Biden-era pardons are invalid could prove consequential for many of the recipients, including Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who received a "full and unconditional" pass for possible federal crimes going back to 2014, and for Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom Trump has accused of committing "treason."

However, Trump has made clear that he especially wishes to see consequence visited on the former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee.

Trump announced after the Oversight Project's initial exposé about the liberal use of the presidential autopen during the Biden administration,

The "Pardons" that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.

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Trump demands vaccine accountability, lefties demand blind conformity



Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” has long been a vocal Trump supporter, but there’s one criticism she’s always harbored: He’s “been very unwilling to question Operation Warp Speed.”

“Until now,” she exclaims.

On Monday, September 1, President Trump posted the following message on Truth Social:

“This is huge, you guys,” Sara says.

She recalls how President Trump doubled down on the success of Operation Warp Speed during his 2024 presidential campaign. For him to finally address the concerns of the millions of Americans who were unfairly "vilified" and “censored” for questioning the COVID vaccine during the pandemic is a “huge step forward,” she says.

Given Anthony Fauci’s highly suspicious pre-emptive pardon, deadly vaccine side effects like myocarditis and pericarditis, Pfizer and Moderna’s multibillion-dollar profits, and the fact that alternative treatments were buried, President Trump’s demand that vaccine companies “justify the success of their various COVID drugs” is beyond necessary.

Even though no one should oppose President Trump’s call for the truth — be it good or bad — the left is predictably up in arms. They want everyone to bury their skepticism and questions and continue pretending the vaccine was good and necessary.

Sara points to a recent New York Times hit piece titled “We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health,” in which former CDC directors criticize Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s leadership at HHS, accusing him of undermining public health.

But look at the people who were shaping public health before the Trump administration took over, and it’s clear we’re in far better hands now.

Sara displays a handful of embarrassing images of one such person: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis — the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases — who resigned on August 28 due to irreconcilable differences with RFK Jr. In the photos, Daskalakis, a gay infectious disease physician known for his work on HIV/AIDS and the monkeypox virus, dons promiscuous leather outfits and jewels.

“This is the guy who was in charge of keeping you safe,” Sara scoffs, playing a clip of Dr. Daskalakis urging the public to “support people’s joy as opposed to calling them risky” in relation to the monkeypox virus.

Sara finds it ironic that “when it comes to dudes fornicating with each other, it’s just a good time,” but “when it comes to someone who doesn’t want to take an experimental jab ... they’re not allowed to participate in society.”

“So these are the people that they want you to trust. ... These are the same people, mind you, who brought you ... a 42% obesity rate, a 60% chronic disease rate,” she condemns.

These are the same people who told us to “trust the science” but are now telling us to not critically examine whether or not the science actually worked — even though systematic review is a cornerstone of science.

“No f**king wonder we’re all sick,” Sara says.

To hear more of her commentary, watch the episode above.

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Rand Paul to refile criminal referral of Fauci to DOJ after Biden autopen revelations



Anthony Fauci was among the individuals with questionable track records who received controversial pardons just prior to former President Joe Biden leaving office.

Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, specifically received a "full and unconditional" pass for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.

'Dr. Fauci, as you are aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress.'

Molecular biologist Dr. Richard H. Ebright of Rutgers University, a leading critic of Fauci's flirtations with gain-of-function research, previously provided Blaze News with insights into why Fauci might require an accountability shield, noting that he "violated federal policies on gain-of-function and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research, committed conspiracy to defraud and perjury, used federal funds to commit crimes, and caused and covered up the cause of a pandemic that killed 20 million and cost $25 trillion."

The Oversight Project revealed earlier this year that like the other pardons hastily dispensed before Biden left office, Fauci's was signed with an automatic signature device. Unfortunately for Fauci, there is presently a great deal of uncertainty over the former president's involvement with the autopen pardons and their legitimacy.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) announced on Monday that he was refiling his criminal referral of Fauci to the Department of Justice. Paul's announcement follows the New York Times' publication of Biden's weak defense of his handlers' use of the autopen along with insights into who was actually behind Fauci's last-minute pardon.

"Perjury is a crime," Paul said on X. "And Fauci must be held accountable."

RELATED: Biden tried defending autopen use to the New York Times. He made it a whole lot worse.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

During a Senate hearing in July 2021, Paul pressed Fauci about the National Institutes of Health funding research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of the coronavirus.

"Dr. Fauci, as you are aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress," Paul said.

"On your last trip to our committee on May 11 [2021], you stated that the NIH 'has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.' And yet, gain-of-function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi and was funded by the NIH," he continued.

'Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly.'

Paul's smoking gun was a 2017 WIV paper on SARS-related coronaviruses that discussed gain-of-function work on coronaviruses and acknowledged funding from NIAID as well as from the United States Agency for International Development's Predict program.

"Viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans," said Paul. "This research fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause in 2014 to 2017 — a pause in funding on gain-of-function."

When afforded an opportunity to retract his previous statement, Fauci instead dug in his heels, stating, "Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement," adding that the study referenced in the 2017 paper was not gain-of-function.

"Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly," added Fauci. "And I want to say that officially."

Paul subsequently referred Fauci to the DOJ, asking then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to open an investigation into the former NIAID director over his testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

The senator noted that contrary to Fauci's suggestion, research conducted "at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and funded under NIAID Award R01AI110964 fits the definition of gain-of-function research."

The recipient of this particular award was Peter Daszak's scandal-plagued organization EcoHealth Alliance, which congressional investigators indicated facilitated gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and was formally debarred along with Daszak in January by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

RELATED: Patel's 'breakthrough' in COVID origins probe spells trouble for Fauci — especially if his pardon is voided

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Paul asked the Biden DOJ again in 2023 to probe Fauci for allegedly lying to Congress after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released an email apparently showing the former NIAID director acknowledge that gain-of-function was indeed taking place at a Chinese institution which the U.S. Government Accountability Office confirmed had received NIH funding along with the WIV.

— (@)

Blaze News has reached out to Paul's office and the DOJ for comment.

Paul's referral comes on the heels of autopen bombshells printed in the New York Times.

Biden told the Times in a phone interview on Thursday that he orally communicated his clemency directions to aides, that the autopen was used liberally because they were dealing with "a whole lot of people" — a record number, actually — and that he did not personally approve every individual categorical clemency.

The White House emails turned over to investigators by the National Archives and reviewed by the Times also cast doubt on the provenance of Fauci's pardon and others like it issued in Biden's final hours in office.

The emails reportedly indicated that the former president's clemency instructions were written up on the basis of hearsay by aides to Biden advisers, then executed by the master of the autopen, Biden White House staff secretary Stefanie Feldman. When it came to the high-profile autopen pardons issued on Biden's final day, the final approval reportedly came not from Biden but from his chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients.

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Patel's 'breakthrough' in COVID origins probe spells trouble for Fauci — especially if his pardon is voided



FBI Director Kash Patel revealed to the eponymous host of "The Joe Rogan Experience" in the episode published Friday that the bureau "just had a great breakthrough" regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a matter into which the FBI apparently has multiple ongoing investigations.

The FBI director noted that this "breakthrough" specifically has to do with Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases whom the White House has accused of helping cover up the likely lab origins of COVID-19 and whose name Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and congressional investigators recently batted around when discussing lies about gain-of-function research.

Patel noted that the FBI long sought the phones and devices Fauci used while he was serving in the first Trump administration during the pandemic, "and nobody had found it — till two days ago."

While the director cautioned Rogan and his audience from jumping "to the conclusion [that] everything's in there," he said the bureau will "look at it, we'll pull it — we'll rip it, as we say."

Patel intimated that where potentially incriminating material is concerned, "maybe it's deleted, maybe it's not, but at least we found it."

When asked about the potential significance of the discovery of such devices and what investigators should look for, molecular biologist Dr. Richard H. Ebright of Rutgers University, a leading critic of Fauci's flirtations with gain-of-function research, told Blaze News, "Fauci violated federal policies on gain-of-function and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research, committed conspiracy to defraud and perjury, used federal funds to commit crimes, and caused and covered up the cause of a pandemic that killed 20 million and cost $25 trillion."

The World Health Organization claims that there have been cumulatively over 7 million reported COVID-19 deaths. However, the Economist's machine-learning model estimated that the total number of excess deaths globally is two to four times higher than the reported number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths, which could the put deaths far in excess of 20 million souls.

RELATED: Lab wars: Inside one Democrat's 20-year crusade to save the world from Anthony Fauci — Part 3: 2020-2024

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Ebright was among the prominent scientists who last year sought accountability over efforts to cure the origin narrative and demanded the retraction of "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2," published by Nature Medicine on March 17, 2020 — a consequential paper that Fauci not only allegedly commissioned and approved but used on multiple occasions to push the zoonotic origin theory.

"If files relevant to Fauci's roles in causing COVID and covering up the cause of COVID are recoverable from Fauci's phones or devices, those files could be of value in documenting the cause and the cover-up and in prosecuting persons culpable for the cause and the cover-up," Ebright told Blaze News. "Examples of relevant files would include files documenting Fauci's correspondence with scientists whose research caused COVID, correspondence with scientists, science administrators, and other federal agency officials who helped Fauci cover up the cause of COVID, and correspondence documenting Fauci's use of non-government email accounts and phone lines for government business."

Blaze News reached out to the FBI for comment and clarification but did not receive a response before publication.

'Clearly he was being deceptive.'

Rogan asked Patel whether the pardons doled out in former President Joe Biden's name would spare Fauci from accountability over his misleading claim to Congress that "the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

There is, after all, a great deal of interest in Congress in holding Fauci accountable over his apparent lie to Congress in 2021 that the NIH never funded gain-of-function research.

For instance, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Matt Kibbe, the host of BlazeTV's docuseries "The Coverup," that he had referred Fauci to the Department of Justice for prosecution three times over his statements.

"We've detailed his lies to Congress, which are a felony. I've sort of tragically and jokingly said, 'If he were a member of the Trump administration, he would have been arrested long ago.' Because I think we have two standards of justice," Paul told Kibbe. "He certainly seems to be protected."

"Clearly he was being deceptive," Rogan said to Patel. "Are they pardoned for that as well? 'Cause it was like this crazy blanket pardon from 2014 forward, which I didn't even know you could do."

On Jan. 20, Fauci received a "full and unconditional" pre-emptive pardon for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.

"So I'm the investigator. So that would be a decision for the Department of Justice," said Patel. "We'll work it up and we'll say, 'This is what we found,' and then legal minds will have to come in and chop on, 'Does this pardon apply or not?'"

While Fauci may presently enjoy an immunity shield from prosecution on account of his last-minute pardon, that pardon now faces a great deal of scrutiny.

RELATED: Who was president these last four years? We deserve an answer

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

President Donald Trump declared in March that the pardons were "VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT."

DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin announced last month that he is reviewing the questionable "autopen" pardons issued in the final days of the Biden White House, noting that they "need some scrutiny." The House Oversight Committee is also investigating autopen use in the Biden White House.

Even if Fauci's pardon holds up, information gleaned by the FBI from the alleged devices could possibly be used in legal actions taken at the state level.

In February, over 16 state attorneys general launched an investigation into Fauci's role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, "demanding accountability for alleged mismanagement, misleading statements, and suppression of scientific debate."

The state AGs underscored in their letter to Congress that the "pardon by former President Biden does not extend to preclude state-level investigations or legal proceedings."

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Biden admin covered up potentially deadly COVID vaccine side effects for months: Senate report



A Senate report claims that President Joe Biden's administration was aware for months about heart issues stemming from COVID-19 vaccines and purposely withheld the information from the public.

A report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said government officials knew as early as February 2021 about the harmful side effects but waited until June to inform the public of the inherent dangers.

'The federal government was very well aware of the myocarditis signal, particularly in young men.'

The report revealed that U.S. health officials "knew about the risks" the vaccines carried related to myocarditis, inflammation of heart muscle, and pericarditis, inflammation of the fibrous sac surrounding the heart, but "downplayed the health concern" and "delayed informing the public about the risk."

RELATED: HHS scrapping COVID jab recommendations for pregnant moms and kids: Report

The report, first obtained by the Daily Wire, showed that the U.S. government ignored warnings from several sources.

In February 2021, U.S. entities were notified of adverse effects by the Israeli Ministry of Health, as the country rolled out vaccines faster than America did. Still, CDC officials declined to make public the "large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine."

It is unclear whether the Israeli government made an effort to notify the public, either.

That same month, a CDC official who co-led the Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group emailed her colleagues about 19,536 vaccine adverse event reports (through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) that included 980 deaths after vaccination.

"Where known, the cause of death was often cardiovascular," the report read.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told the Daily Wire that the Biden administration did not want to increase "vaccine hesitancy" by reporting the side effects openly.

"But in being concerned about that, they violated the inviolable principle of informed consent," Johnson told the outlet. “The federal government was very well aware of the myocarditis signal, particularly in young men, as early as February [2021]."

RELATED: New documentary reveals heartbreaking COVID vaccine stories they kept secret

In May 2021, the CDC omitted information from its "clinical considerations" on its website that advised doctors to restrict patients with myocarditis from "rigorous activity like competitive sports for at least 3 months."

The report also said that in June 2021, the White House distributed talking points to U.S. health officials "downplaying the risk of myocarditis."

"The depths of depravity of this cover-up keep getting deeper. They knew about vaccine side effects early on but withheld that information as they continued to push emergency use authorization even as young people were dying," BlazeTV's Matt Kibbe said about the report.

Kibbe added, "This scandal is ultimately about self-dealing between government bureaucrats and pharmaceutical companies, who all had financial incentives to bury the truth and keep pushing the vaccines."

Blaze News reached out to the National Institutes of Health and Health and Human Services for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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



Ed Martin, the incoming Department of Justice pardon attorney and director of the DOJ's Weaponization Working Group, announced Tuesday that he will review the rash of questionable "autopen" pardons issued in the final days of the Biden White House, noting that they "need some scrutiny."

"They need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter, and to be accepted, and to be something that's used correctly. So I do think we're going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did," Martin told reporters.

The Justice Department's probe could spell trouble for controversial Biden pardonees such as Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — including Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), whom President Donald Trump and other Republicans have faulted for various alleged crimes and improprieties.

For instance, Trump has suggested that Milley may have committed "treason." While previously serving as Trump's most senior uniformed adviser, Milley called his communist Chinese counterpart, communist Gen. Li Zuocheng, on two occasions — four days before the 2020 election and on Jan. 8, 2021 — to reassure Zuocheng that he would provide him with actionable warnings should Trump decide to attack. Milley received a pardon just hours before former President Joe Biden left office.

Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, received a "full and unconditional" pass for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.

In February, over 16 state attorneys general launched an investigation into Fauci's role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, "demanding accountability for alleged mismanagement, misleading statements, and suppression of scientific debate." Without his autopen pardon, Fauci would be legally exposed at both the state and federal levels.

"The American people were promised accountability, and I think Ed Martin is our best shot at it," Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News. "These pardons are fake and invalid, and the president has already said that is his view."

'There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people.'

"When these people, like the January 6 Committee and particularly Adam Schiff, are charged and try defending their bogus pardon, then we will start to learn who was really running the White House," continued Howell. "We need to answer the question everyone is asking: Who was running the government the last four years?"

Blaze News reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Schiff also did not respond to a question about whether he would mind losing his pardon, given that he indicated in December he didn't want it in the first place.

RELATED: Trump declares Biden's 'autopen' pardons for J6 committee, Fauci, others are 'VOID'

Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

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

The watchdog group later confirmed "the same exact Biden autopen signature" was used on the pardons for Fauci, Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee, as well as on the pardons for several members of Biden's family who were apparently involved in dodgy foreign deals with the former president and his felonious son Hunter Biden.

— (@)

Biden's cognitive decline was already enough for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) and others to question the legal legitimacy of pardons bearing his machine-printed signature; however, suspicions about the validity of the documents was compounded by reports of staffers and family members making decisions on Biden's behalf; evidence that his 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 to the New York Post that a key staffer, who was not named, was suspected of unilaterally making decisions to sign documents as the former president's mental faculties declined.

"The prolific use of autopen by the Biden White House was an instrument to hide the truth from the American people as to who was running the government," Howell told Blaze News at the time.

RELATED: The Great Biden Book War has finally begun

Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump soon weighed in on the autopen controversy, declaring in a March 17 post on Truth Social that the "'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!"

"The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden," continue Trump. "He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level."

Martin suggested Tuesday that while the mere use of autopen is itself not necessarily an issue, "No one, I think, with the standard of ... reasonableness thinks that what Joe Biden did at the end of his term was particularly reasonable."

"There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people," continued Martin. "And if they can be charged, we'll charge them. But if they can't be charged, we will name them. ... And in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are shamed. And that's a fact. That's the way things work, and so that's how I believe the job operates."

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