Latest news with #RandPaul
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
A Rebuke for the Secret Service, a Year After Trump's Near Assassination
Sen. Rand Paul issues a report on the Secret Service's failures to protect Donald Trump last summer in Butler, Pa. What has been learned in the year since then, and does the Secret Service need bigger reforms, such as giving up the job of investigating financial crimes? Plus, the Senate moves on $9 billion in spending rescissions, including cuts to public broadcasting. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press
Wall Street Journal
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
The Secret Service Failure at Butler, Pa., a Year Later
When the Secret Service failed to stop a gunman from taking eight shots at Donald Trump last summer at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., the country came close to a political disaster. A year later it isn't clear that enough has changed. In a Senate report released Sunday, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Rand Paul called the near miss on Mr. Trump's life that also killed an attendee and injured two others a 'cascade of preventable failures.' The report concludes 'the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.' Many details of the Secret Service's failure in Butler have been documented. Inadequate preparation was exacerbated by a breakdown in communications among Secret Service agents, local law enforcement providing additional security at the site, and counter-snipers unaware of intelligence regarding threats against Mr. Trump. The amateur profile of the shooter made his near success an even greater humiliation. 'A 20-year-old gunman was able to evade detection by the country's top protective agency for nearly 45 minutes,' the committee report says. 'Known line-of-sight vulnerabilities were identified in advance but not addressed,' and despite these rudimentary lapses, 'not a single person has been fired.' Several agents were recently put on temporary leave.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Dr. Fauci referred to top prosecutor for criminal charges
Republican Rand Paul is redoubling his efforts in his investigation into the man who led America's COVID-19 response, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The Kentucky senator, who has grilled Fauci about the pandemic since 2021, is demanding that he be criminally prosecuted for lying to Congress in light of new shocking details about his presidential pardon. Fauci was granted a preemptive pardon by ex-President Joe Biden as he left office, which could shield him from some consequences related to the pandemic. But Biden admitted the pardon was signed by autopen, and not himself, raising questions about his mental state as he issued the sweeping relief for Fauci. 'If the President didn't authorize this pardon personally, then the Department has a duty to investigate and prosecute as it would any ordinary citizen,' Paul wrote in a post on X made Monday afternoon, announcing his latest legal move against Fauci. Paul told the Daily Mail last month that he was preparing to subpoena Fauci as part of an expanded Senate investigation into the origins of Covid-19 and US-funded research in Wuhan, China. The goal: scrutinize Fauci's role in approving controversial virus experiments. Paul announced earlier on Monday that he would 'reissue [his] criminal referral of Anthony Fauci to Trump DOJ!' The Kentucky Republican then followed up his initial post, noting that 'perjury is a crime. And Fauci must be held accountable.' Fauci testified in 2023 before the U.S Senate and noted that he had 'never lied before Congress.' 'This directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it's absolutely a lie. That's why I sent an official criminal referral to the DOJ,' Paul wrote on X back in 2023. Paul also said that he hasn't yet been given access to the names of people who were part of the process determining the Wuhan research, but is continuing to seek interviews. During a press conference in the Oval Office held Monday morning, President Donald Trump addressed his predecessor's autopen usage, noting that he thought it was 'maybe one of the biggest scandals that we've had in 50-100 years. This is a tremendous scandal... I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing. I guarantee it.' Former President Joe Biden told the New York Times in a story published Sunday that he made 'every decision.' But he revealed that when it came to large groups of people, he did not individually approve the names of every single person he pardoned during his final months in the White House. Instead, he signed off on the criteria and standards he wanted to be used to determine which criminals received reduced sentences. This placed offenders into categories, some of which were issued sweeping pardons. His decision to speak out on the issue comes after Republicans have spent months demonizing the autopen's usage and questioning whether Biden was ever even aware of the decisions being made. Legal experts note that enforcing a congressional subpoena can be difficult and may be dependent on whether the Justice Department wants to pursue contempt charges. Dr. Fauci also holds the option of challenging the subpoena in court, potentially further delaying any testimony. Theo Wold, an Oversight Project board member and fellow at the Heritage Foundation, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, noting that dozens of controversial clemency warrants – including Dr. Fauci's – were signed using an autopen, not by President Biden himself. Wold argued that this procedural irregularity could undermine the validity of the pardons. 'In addition, we found that the Biden White House used the autopen to affix President Biden's signature to clemency warrants and executive orders while the President himself was in Washington, DC, for at least some of that day, and thus was presumably available to sign important executive actions,' Wold added. Many legal scholars say the US Constitution does not require a presidential pardon to be signed by hand, and judicial precedent supports the use of autopen for official documents, including pardons.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Dr. Fauci referred to top prosecutor for criminal charges after bombshell Biden autopen pardon revelation
Republican Rand Paul is redoubling his efforts in his investigation into the man who led America's COVID-19 response, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The Kentucky senator, who has grilled Fauci about the pandemic since 2021, is demanding that he be criminally prosecuted for lying to Congress in light of new shocking details about his presidential pardon. Fauci was granted a preemptive pardon by ex-President Joe Biden as he left office, which could shield him from some consequences related to the pandemic. But Biden admitted the pardon was signed by autopen, and not himself, raising questions about his mental state as he issued the sweeping relief for Fauci. 'If the President didn't authorize this pardon personally, then the Department has a duty to investigate and prosecute as it would any ordinary citizen,' Paul wrote in a post on X made Monday afternoon, announcing his latest legal move against Fauci. Paul told the Daily Mail last month that he was preparing to subpoena Fauci as part of an expanded Senate investigation into the origins of Covid-19 and US-funded research in Wuhan, China. The goal: scrutinize Fauci's role in approving controversial virus experiments. Paul announced earlier on Monday that he would 'reissue [his] criminal referral of Anthony Fauci to Trump DOJ!' The Kentucky Republican then followed up his initial post, noting that 'perjury is a crime. And Fauci must be held accountable.' Fauci testified in 2023 before the U.S Senate and noted that he had 'never lied before Congress.' "This directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it's absolutely a lie. That's why I sent an official criminal referral to the DOJ," Paul wrote on X back in 2023. Paul also said that he hasn't yet been given access to the names of people who were part of the process determining the Wuhan research, but is continuing to seek interviews. During a press conference in the Oval Office held Monday morning, President Donald Trump addressed his predecessor's autopen usage, noting that he thought it was 'maybe one of the biggest scandals that we've had in 50-100 years. This is a tremendous scandal... I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing. I guarantee it.' Former President Joe Biden told the New York Times in a story published Sunday that he made 'every decision.' But he revealed that when it came to large groups of people, he did not individually approve the names of every single person he pardoned during his final months in the White House. Instead, he signed off on the criteria and standards he wanted to be used to determine which criminals received reduced sentences. This placed offenders into categories, some of which were issued sweeping pardons. His decision to speak out on the issue comes after Republicans have spent months demonizing the autopen's usage and questioning whether Biden was ever even aware of the decisions being made. Legal experts note that enforcing a congressional subpoena can be difficult and may be dependent on whether the Justice Department wants to pursue contempt charges. Dr. Fauci also holds the option of challenging the subpoena in court, potentially further delaying any testimony. In July 2023, I referred Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Department of Justice for lying under oath to Congress. His own emails directly contradicted his sworn testimony. @NYT reports Fauci was quietly pardoned by an autopen, operated by Biden's staff. If the President didn't authorize… — Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) July 14, 2025 Theo Wold, an Oversight Project board member and fellow at the Heritage Foundation, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, noting that dozens of controversial clemency warrants - including Dr. Fauci's - were signed using an autopen, not by President Biden himself. Wold argued that this procedural irregularity could undermine the validity of the pardons. 'In addition, we found that the Biden White House used the autopen to affix President Biden's signature to clemency warrants and executive orders while the President himself was in Washington, DC, for at least some of that day, and thus was presumably available to sign important executive actions,' Wold added. Many legal scholars say the US Constitution does not require a presidential pardon to be signed by hand, and judicial precedent supports the use of autopen for official documents, including pardons.
Fox News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'Held accountable': Sen. Rand Paul again vows to issue a criminal referral for Fauci
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday announced that he would revive his criminal referral against Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding yet another wrinkle to the ongoing Biden White House autopen saga. "Today I will reissue my criminal referral of Anthony Fauci to Trump DOJ," Paul said on X. It's not the first time that Paul has issued a criminal referral against Fauci, who is the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and medical adviser to former President Joe Biden. The first came in 2021, when Paul accused Fauci of lying to Congress about funding gain-of-function research for the COVID-19 virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The next came in 2023, again as part of Paul's efforts to investigate the origins of the virus. "Perjury is a crime," Paul said. "And Fauci must be held accountable." Fox News Digital reached out to Paul's office for comment. This time, Paul's reupping of his criminal referral comes after a new report added another chapter to the ongoing autopen saga, in which President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have accused Biden of shrugging off his authority to aides and top officials in the White House to authorize his signature on a slew of pardons and documents. The New York Times reported that emails showed that Biden's Chief of Staff Jeff Zients gave final approval for the use of the autopen for preemptive pardons for Fauci and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, two of Trump's top critics. Biden signed the bulk of his over 4,000 clemency documents in the waning months of his presidency, a point that Trump and congressional Republicans have pounced to hammer in the claims that the former president's cognitive ability was declining and his staff were running the White House. Trump has gone so far as to request Attorney General Pam Bondi open an investigation into Biden's usage of the autopen, while Republicans in the Senate and House have all held their own committee hearings on the matter. And earlier Monday, Trump told reporters that Biden's alleged use of the autopen amounted to possibly "one of the biggest scandals that we've had in 50 to 100 years." "I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing, I guarantee you," Trump said.
