Checked out: Biden staff scrambled to make thousands of pardons look presidential

New documents show that President Biden was checked out of decisions on pardoning felons and commuting the sentences of death-row inmates while his aides worked to make him look involved on paper.

The National Archives and Records Administration handed over Biden administration memos detailing steps taken to create a record that would make Mr. Biden look like the decision-maker for the thousands of pardons signed by autopen during his final days in office.

“Internal emails reveal Biden didn’t review thousands of pardons granted in his final days and even his own White House lawyers were scrambling for proof he approved them,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee aides posted on social media.

Other newly leaked documents show the National Archives searched its records on the administration’s commutation of nearly every federal death sentence but could “not find a version indicating President Biden’s approval.”

The records were leaked to several news outlets amid a Trump administration probe into Mr. Biden’s historically heavy use of the autopen.

Mike Howell, executive director of the watchdog group Oversight Project, has called on President Trump to take action to reverse some of the pardons and to block the release of felons who received reduced sentences thanks to clemency granted by the Biden autopen.

“We’ve been right all along and do not mind being proven right again.  Now is the time for actual accountability.  There are death-row inmates with bad commutations who need to be taken care of, in addition to all the other political cronies with legally void pardons,” Mr. Howell told The Washington Times.

The Washington Times reported last month that Mr. Biden’s Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer criticized “highly problematic” language used in a single warrant, signed by the autopen, that pardoned hundreds of criminals, including a man who killed a woman and her young child to block her from testifying against him in a drug case.

Mr. Weinsheimer’s Jan. 18 email warned Biden lawyers the clemency warrants were vague and that the lack of specificity could result in commutations, “in circumstances, including for crimes of violence, that was not intended.”

In addition to pardoning criminals, Mr. Biden’s autopen signed pre-emptive pardons to his family members and a slew of Democrats and anti-Trump Republican lawmakers who investigated Mr. Trump and his aides following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Mr. Biden also preemptively pardoned his COVID-19 adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Mr. Biden did not personally sign any of these pardons, despite a recommendation from his staff earlier in his presidency that his own signature should be used on all clemency warrants.

Instead, a last-minute, massive flurry of thousands of pardons were included in three warrants, all signed by autopen.

Mr. Biden’s heavy use of the autopen was first revealed by Oversight Project lawyers who obtained the warrants, executive orders and other memoranda from the National Archives and scrutinized every signature.

They identified three separate Biden autopen signatures that were used to sign documents, including the warrant providing clemency to thousands of criminals.

Mr. Biden pardoned more than 4,200 individuals, more than any other president. Mr. Trump, who has pardoned 1,700 individuals over both terms, said Mr. Biden’s pardons are “void” because he did not sign them personally. No steps have been taken to reverse those pardons, however. He ordered the Justice Department to examine the matter and that probe is ongoing.

House investigators are also examining the autopen and whether Mr. Biden was aware of what was signed using the mechanical pen.

“New internal emails reveal Joe Biden’s sweeping pardons sparked concern inside the Biden West Wing and Department of Justice over whether his wishes were followed,” said Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican. “It’s unclear if Joe Biden himself was even consulted before THOUSANDS of pardons went out.”

The National Archives told the Trump administration that after searching records, “we did not find specific meeting notes that clearly mention or note that the President was present” for any of four White House meetings centered on clemency decisions ahead of his exit from office. The documents were first obtained by Just the News.

Additional documents, first reported by the New York Post, show Biden staffers, days before the administration ended, scrambling to create an email “chain” confirming Mr. Biden actually signed off on the thousands of pardons.

White House staff secretary Stef Feldman, whose office controlled the autopen, sent an email to Biden lawyers seeking proof the president agreed to the pardons that were to be signed with a mechanical signature.

“I’m going to need email from [Deputy Assistant to the President] Rosa [Po] on original chain confirming P[resident] signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,” Ms. Feldman wrote to five other Biden aides in a late-night email sent on Jan. 16, four days before Mr. Biden’s term ended.

The message was sent to White House counsel Tyeesha Dixson, who then forwarded it to her boss, Michael Posada, who was special assistant to the president and chief of staff to the White House Counsel.

“Michael, thoughts on how to handle this?” she wrote. “He [Mr. Biden] doesn’t review the warrants.”

Further emails were exchanged among Biden staff, resulting in a “blurb,” that would “make it clear,” the pardons reflect Mr. Biden’s decision to grant them.

The emails were exchanged at about 10 p.m., long after Mr. Biden was known to have checked out for the day, according to leakers who said the president’s daily work schedule did not go beyond late afternoon.

Mr. Biden, in two recent interviews, has denied claims he was uninvolved in the pardons.

He told The New York Times earlier this summer that he voiced permission for all the clemency warrants and criticized the Trump administration and congressional Republicans for investigating the matter.

Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, gave the final sign-off on the huge slate of pardons and sentence reductions. Mr. Biden did not approve each one. Instead, he said, he approved “the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.”

One notable exception to the autopen was the pardon of Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden’s son, who was convicted on felony gun charges and in September 2024 pleaded guilty to tax evasion and tax fraud charges. Mr. Biden appears to have personally signed off on his son’s “full and unconditional pardon,” spanning an entire decade of possible wrongdoing.