Former President Joe Biden did not personally review each individual granted a pardon during the mass clemency actions authorized by autopen in the final months of his term, according to a new report.
According to a Sunday report by The New York Times, Biden “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people,” but “signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.”
According to one of Biden’s aides, the Bureau of Prisons would supply the administration with updated information on inmates eligible for pardons, leading to revisions in the list of those set for release. However, the aide noted that staff did not present those changes to Biden for approval.
??”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, the aide said,” the Times noted.
In his final months in office, President Biden issued a wave of controversial pardons and clemency actions. These included clemency for 1,500 individuals who had been placed in home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, pardons for 2,500 drug offenders, and high-profile pardons for his son Hunter Biden, other family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the January 6 Committee.
Biden did not personally sign any of the pardons or clemency actions he authorized in December 2024 or January, except for the pardon granted to his son. In all other cases, the actions were finalized using an autopen operated by his staff.
According to a report from The New York Times, Biden issued his decisions “orally” during internal staff meetings, after which the directives were executed by Staff Secretary Stefanie Feldman, who managed the autopen.
President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans have launched investigations into Biden’s use of the autopen, suggesting that some pardons may have been issued without the president’s direct approval.
Biden has claimed that he made each individual clemency decision, a statement that now appears to be at odds with the Times report.
