JUST IN: Oversight Committee Puts Fauci And Milley In Its Crosshairs

U.S. House Republicans on the Oversight Committee are zeroing in on Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark Milley as they probe former President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons of both men during his final days in office.

Fauci and Milley were among a slew of late, controversial pardons granted by Biden out of concern that incoming President Donald Trump would seek to prosecute them. Trump has been especially critical of both men, accusing them of undermining his efforts to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control in 2020 as well as the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.

The Oversight Committee, led by Chair James Comer (R-KY), said it will be seeking additional documentation from the former administration which may shed light on whether Biden, 82, was cognizant of the pardons when an autopen was used to sign them.

Sensing his vulnerability on the issue, President Biden has pushed back forcefully on the accusation that he was not lucid when aides directed the use of his autopen. However, an interview he gave in June poured gasoline on the simmering controversy when he suggested he “signed off on the standards” for pardons that were announced, but not always to whom they were being granted.

The inadvertent opening gave House Republicans a chance to question the validity of pardons for Fauci and Milley, which cover their time in office under Trump in his first administration.

President Trump reached to the “great news” of Comer’s investigation in a brief post on Truth Social.

Milley, who served as the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during most of President Trump’s first term, went on to serve under Biden. He has gone on the record calling Trump a “fascist” and “wannabe dictator,” according to the Monitor.

He first drew Trump’s ire after disobeying an order to deploy soldiers into U.S. cities during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, some of which devolved into violence and lawlessness in areas like Minneapolis, Minn. and Portland, Ore.

Trump has continued to launch broadsides at Fauci, who disavowed working for him after retiring, calling the former National Institutes of Health leader a “total disaster” during the pandemic.

Other last-minute pardons issued by President Biden cover members of his own family, including son Hunter Biden, brother James Biden, and James’s wife Sarah Biden. Comer has previously tied the three Biden family members to a series of business transactions with foreign oligarchs, accusing them of orchestrating a “shell game” that resulted in a direct $40,000 “loan repayment” to the former president.