A wave of last-minute pardons from President Biden was signed using an autopen — with growing evidence he may not have personally authorized each one. Critics say it casts serious doubt on the legitimacy of these presidential actions.
Key Facts:
- The New York Times reported that some clemency documents were signed using an autopen without Biden’s individual approval.
- Biden told The Times he “made every decision” but used the autopen due to the volume of cases.
- Aides admitted Biden did not approve each name and instead signed off on general criteria for pardons.
- White House staff finalized the list and approved autopen use, with Chief of Staff Jeff Zients giving the green light via email.
- Former Biden aide Neera Tanden recently testified she authorized autopen signatures without knowing who approved them.
The Rest of The Story:
In the final stretch of President Joe Biden’s term, a wave of clemency actions was executed — not with the President’s hand, but with an autopen device replicating his signature.
A new report by The New York Times reveals these actions may not have had Biden’s direct approval on a name-by-name basis.
Biden insists he made the decisions personally.
“I made every decision,” he told the Times by phone, explaining the autopen was used because “we’re talking about a whole lot of people.”
However, internal communications reviewed by the Times suggest a different story.
Emails show that Biden signed off on broad categories for who should be pardoned or have sentences reduced.
Staff then used those standards to finalize the lists.
Due to frequent updates to the list, aides reportedly stopped asking Biden to re-sign revised documents and instead ran the final versions through the autopen.
At 10:28 p.m. on January 19, an aide emailed the final clemency list to Stefanie Feldman, the staff secretary.
Just three minutes later, Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients replied “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
There is no documentation showing Biden saw or approved the final list himself.
Joe Biden's January 19th "pardons" were all identical. NYT just confirmed that his staff authorized the use of autopen for them.
Fauci, Milley, J6 Committee, etc. pic.twitter.com/plt6Tjvw28
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 14, 2025
Commentary:
This story raises serious constitutional and ethical concerns.
Only the President of the United States has the power to issue pardons.
Staff members, including even the Chief of Staff, cannot substitute their authority for that of the elected Commander-in-Chief.
Yet that’s exactly what appears to have happened in Biden’s final days.
It’s clear from the Times’ report that Biden did not review every individual name. Instead, his aides worked off broad criteria and processed the final documents independently.
In any other context, this would be called forgery — even if the signer previously gave vague approval.
What’s more disturbing is that this entire process was apparently orchestrated as Biden’s mental and physical condition were under serious public scrutiny.
That same period saw growing questions about his cognitive health. If Biden wasn’t lucid enough to approve individual pardons, then who was running the country?
A reversal of these pardons may be legally tricky — but it may also be necessary.
President Trump, if re-elected, should consider issuing an executive order nullifying the autopen pardons on the grounds that they were not constitutionally authorized.
Let the courts weigh in. Even if reversed pardons trigger lawsuits, the discovery process alone could expose how deep the deception ran.
More than just a legal battle, this would force testimony under oath.
It would put Biden’s staff on record about who truly made the decisions in those final hours.
And if the former president was not in charge, the American people deserve to know who was.
There may be a broader cover-up at play.
If Biden’s condition was so poor that staff had to quietly make decisions for him, that fact alone justifies a full investigation — even a congressional “truth commission.”
Americans deserve answers on whether the White House knowingly concealed the president’s incapacity.
If staffers effectively impersonated the president, bypassing the legal limits of their authority, that sets a dangerous precedent.
Presidential powers must never be transferred without full transparency. The legitimacy of the executive branch itself is on the line.
The Bottom Line:
The final pardons issued by President Biden may not have been personally authorized, raising legal questions about their validity.
His aides used an autopen to process documents based on criteria he approved in general terms — not specific names.
If Biden lacked the capacity to carry out these duties, and his staff took over, the public deserves a full accounting.
A future administration may need to challenge these actions and shine light on what really happened in the final hours of Biden’s presidency.
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