A report released Sunday in The New York Times reveals multiple pardons handed out in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s presidency were signed by an autopen — some lacking Biden’s final authorization.
The article, titled “Biden Says He Made the Clemency Decisions That Were Recorded With Autopen,” seemingly tries to dispel claims by President Donald Trump “and his allies … that Joseph R. Biden Jr. was incapacitated and his staff conspired to take presidential actions in his name.”
In a brief phone interview with The Times, Biden insisted “I made every decision” and, according to The Times, asserted “that he had his staff use an autopen replicating his signature on the clemency warrants because ‘we’re talking about a whole lot of people.’”
The Times claims internal emails “show that the Biden White House had a process to establish that Mr. Biden had orally made decisions in meetings before the staff secretary, Stefanie Feldman, who managed use of the autopen, would have clemency records put through the signing device.”
But then comes the line that seemingly undercuts the entire narrative being peddled by The Times:
“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed. Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence,” The Times’ Charlie Savage and Tyler Pager wrote.
According to the report citing an aide, however, “small changes to the list” kept occurring after Biden “signed off,” and so, “Rather than ask Mr. Biden to keep signing revised versions, his staff waited and then ran the final version through the autopen, which they saw as a routine procedure.”
“Mr. Biden kept his aides until nearly 10 p.m. to talk through such decisions, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Times reported, referring to a Jan. 19 meeting.
“The emails show that an aide to Mr. Siskel sent a draft summary of Mr. Biden’s decisions at that meeting to an assistant to Mr. Zients, copying Mr. Siskel, at 10:03 p.m. The assistant forwarded it to Mr. Reed and Mr. Zients, asking for their approval, and then sent a final version to Ms. Feldman — copying many meeting participants and aides — at 10:28 p.m.,” according to the report.
“Three minutes later, Mr. Zients hit ‘reply all’ and wrote, ‘I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons,’” the report continues.
In reality, The Times offers no tangible proof that Biden personally approved anything at all. Every detail hangs on either Biden’s word, emails saying it happened or secondhand spin from anonymous aides still clearly desperate to convince the public the president was in charge.
The only proof that Biden actually “orally made decisions” comes down to an email reviewed by the Times from White House counsel Ed Siskel, who wrote, “The president makes the final decision on the final pardon and/or commutation slate.”
The report comes just weeks after Neera Tanden, former head of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council, admitted before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door hearing that she authorized autopen signatures on documents without knowing who issued the final approval, according to Fox News. Tanden reportedly rarely interacted with Biden.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
