BREAKING: President Trump Claims Joe Biden Did NOT…

President Donald Trump on Wednesday raised fresh doubts about whether Joe Biden actually signed the pardon that shields Dr. Anthony Fauci from federal prosecution, suggesting the document may have been produced by an autopen without the former president’s knowledge or approval.

The comments came just hours after Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and refused to answer a single question about his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination well over one hundred times.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, Trump was asked whether the Justice Department should reopen its investigation into Biden’s use of an autopen for pardons issued in the final hours of his presidency. Trump did not call for the pardon to be thrown out outright, but he made clear he has serious doubts that Biden had any real understanding of what he was signing, if he signed anything at all.

Trump described the pardon power as the single most significant tool available to any American president, calling it more powerful than nearly anything else in the office. He said that on its face, he respects the pardon Biden issued for Fauci. But in the same breath, he made clear that respecting the existence of a pardon and believing it was legitimately executed are two very different things.

The president noted that he could only be certain Biden personally signed one pardon during his final days in office, the one issued for his son Hunter Biden. Everything else, Trump suggested, likely passed through the autopen machine without Biden’s direct involvement or full comprehension.

This is not the first time Trump has raised alarms about Biden’s use of an autopen. Earlier this year, Trump declared in a Truth Social post that pardons issued to members of the House select committee that investigated the January 6th Capitol riot were void, vacant, and of no further force or effect, arguing that Biden neither signed them nor understood what they contained.

Trump’s skepticism is not coming out of nowhere. The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has spent months compiling documents bearing what it says is Biden’s autopen signature, finding that the vast majority of official paperwork from his administration carries the exact same mechanically produced signature. Only a small handful of documents, including the announcement of his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, appear to bear anything resembling a signature that could have been made by Biden’s own hand.

Trump explained that challenging a pardon in court would require a substantial burden of proof, one that goes well beyond simply pointing out that an autopen was used. He said that whoever operated the device would need to demonstrate they fully understood the legal weight and content of what they were authorizing on Biden’s behalf. Given Biden’s public struggles and diminished public appearances during his final year in office, Trump suggested it was doubtful that standard could ever be met.

Still, Trump stopped short of directing the Justice Department to formally challenge the Fauci pardon in court, a notable restraint given how aggressively he has pursued accountability for pandemic-era officials in other contexts. He seemed content, for now, to let the political and public doubt around the pardon’s legitimacy speak for itself.

The timing of Trump’s remarks could not have been more pointed. They came on the same day Fauci sat before the Senate and refused to answer even the most basic questions, despite already possessing what was supposed to be an ironclad, unconditional pardon covering any federal offenses between January of 2014 and the day Biden left office. If the pardon truly protects Fauci from prosecution, critics on the right have asked, why would he need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment at all?

Trump offered his own theory on that point as well. He said Fauci’s decision to refuse to answer questions was likely driven by legal advice from his attorney rather than any personal choice, adding that he was never a particular fan of Fauci to begin with. Trump went on to criticize Fauci’s inconsistent messaging throughout the pandemic, recalling how the public was first told masks were unnecessary and then later ordered to wear multiple masks at once.

He also took the opportunity to compare COVID death tolls between his own administration and Biden’s, arguing that more Americans died from the virus on Biden’s watch despite the arrival of vaccines and treatments that were not available during the earliest and most chaotic months of the pandemic under his own presidency.

Legal experts have noted that challenging a presidential pardon on the grounds that it was signed via autopen would be an unprecedented legal battle. Autopens have been used by multiple past presidents for routine paperwork, and no court has ever definitively ruled that their use invalidates a president’s official actions. Still, Republicans argue that pardons are uniquely personal exercises of executive power that should require the president’s direct and informed authorization, not a mechanical stand-in operated by aides.

Biden issued the pardon for Fauci just hours before leaving office in January of 2025, part of a broader wave of preemptive pardons that also covered members of the January 6th committee and other officials Biden feared could face retribution under a second Trump administration. Critics have long argued that the sheer volume and last minute timing of these pardons raises legitimate questions about how much personal oversight Biden actually exercised over each one.

Conservative commentators were quick to note the irony of the situation. For years, Fauci was treated in Democrat circles as an unimpeachable authority on public health, someone whose word was treated as gospel even when it changed dramatically from one month to the next. Now the same man needs to hide behind both a presidential pardon of uncertain legitimacy and the Fifth Amendment simply to avoid answering basic questions about his own record.

Republicans on the Senate committee, including Chairman Rand Paul, have made clear they intend to continue pursuing accountability regardless of the pardon’s legal status. Paul has separately accused Fauci of directing subordinates to destroy federal records related to COVID-19 investigations, a serious allegation that would constitute obstruction if proven, and one that a pardon covering conduct only through January of 2025 may not fully shield him from going forward.