The 8-7 party-line vote Thursday in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee represents a major new milestone in the GOP’s targeting of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
But for committee chair Sen. Rand Paul, it’s far from the first time he’s tried to get Fauci thrown in jail.
Paul previously pressed the Justice Department to investigate Fauci during the Biden era, to no avail. After President Donald Trump took office, he renewed that request, arguing in a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi last July that the government should examine whether Fauci’s preemptive pardon was legitimate.
“New information has revealed that these pardons were executed via autopen, with no documented confirmation that the President personally reviewed or approved each individual grant of clemency,” Paul wrote, citing reports that then-President Joe Biden had authorized his staff to affix his signature to a slew of clemency actions.
Several prominent Republicans, including Trump, have questioned Biden’s use of the autopen to grant pardons and approve other actions.
But none have formally challenged their authenticity, and the Justice Department never appeared to take any action on Paul’s request.
More recently, even Trump appeared reticent to criticize Biden’s pardons, telling reporters last month that Fauci “was pardoned by Biden, and I respect that.”