Autopen Scandal Deepens. Could Pardons Be Invalidated?

Jul 14, 2025 - 16:28
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Autopen Scandal Deepens. Could Pardons Be Invalidated?

The so-called autopen scandal appears to be getting worse for former President Joe Biden as more information comes to light.

Biden, some of his former staffers, and a handful of thought leaders in the Democratic Party have attempted to triage the message about the inner workings of the previous presidential administration. But tangible evidence is mounting that it was effectively run like a kind of politburo.

The New York Times released an interesting report Sunday afternoon that included a short interview with Biden saying he made decisions on clemency that were carried out with an autopen. In the final month of his presidency, Biden pardoned a number of high-profile people and granted clemency to an additional 1,500.

High-profile examples included his son, Hunter Biden, members of the Jan. 6 committee, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley.

“Everybody knows how vindictive [President Donald Trump] is, so we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now,” Biden said in theTimes interview. “I consciously made all those decisions.”

Some of the people on the 1,500 person list were violent criminals including virtually everyone on death row.

Biden insisted that he was “conscious” of all his administration’s decisions (a contention not helped by his rambling responses).

But snippets from the Times’ report calls that claim into question.

“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed,” the Times reported. “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.”

On Biden’s last day in office Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients gave approval to use the autopen in the cases of Fauci and Milley, according to the Times.

In addition, the Times reported that Biden’s staff who drafted the blubs for acts of clemency admitted that they weren’t in the room with the president when approval for signing them was made.

Whatever the intent of Biden or this report, it certainly didn’t clear up the suspicion that Biden wasn’t mentally competent to make decisions and that his staff and perhaps other people were essentially usurping executive power they didn’t have.

When you combine that with the recent decision by Biden’s White House doctor to continually plead the Fifth Amendment to remain silent at a recent closed doors House hearing and former first lady Jill Biden’s chief-of-staff Anthony Bernal suddenly becoming uncooperative with the autopen investigation it certainly raises suspicion.

And that’s a potentially enormous scandal, even bigger than the media’s coverup of the president’s health. Not only was the country put in danger with an out-to-lunch commander in chief, but members of his staff may have been wielding unconstitutional powers on his behalf.

Trump said to reporters Monday that the autopen scandal may be one of the biggest in American history, and he may be correct.

It’s a big stinking deal, to paraphrase Biden in his more lucid days.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X that “as a legal matter, that ANY pardon Biden did not ‘individually approve’ is NULL & VOID.”

Cruz may have come to this conclusion based on the testimony of a witness at a recent Senate hearing on the autopen use and abuse. Cruz asked Theodore Wold, a visiting fellow for law and technology policy at The Heritage Foundation, whether an executive order signed by a staffer who autopen signs it without the president’s knowledge is legally binding.

Wold answered, “No.”

Unfortunately, there is very little precedent here to rely on to determine what the status of those pardons is. So, this may end up being more of a political battle than a legal dilemma.

I suspect this is why close associates of Biden are becoming closed lipped. This is about more than just Biden’s legacy or the media’s shame. It’s about whether Biden’s pardons are legally binding. It’s about whether members of the Biden White House misused their power. Did they commit fraud?

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who is the chairman of a Senate committee looking into the autopen use, suggested that’s a possibility.

One way or another, the American people deserve answers. 

The post Autopen Scandal Deepens. Could Pardons Be Invalidated? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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Fibis I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.