Former President Joe Biden did not personally review every person who was granted a pardon in mass clemency actions signed by an 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.”
One of Biden’s aides stated that the Bureau of Prisons would provide the administration with new information on inmates eligible for pardons, prompting updates to the list of those scheduled for release. Staff would not run those changes by Biden, according to the aide.
”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 reported.
In his final months in office, Biden issued a series of controversial pardons and clemency actions. He issued clemency to 1,500 people placed in home confinement during the COVID pandemic, pardons for 2,500 drug offenders, and pardons for his son, Hunter Biden, and other family members, as well as for Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 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 either December 2024 or January, with the exception of his son’s pardon. For all other cases, his staff used the autopen to finalize the actions.
According to the Times report, Biden made decisions “orally” during staff meetings, and then the actions were carried out by the staff secretary, Stefanie Feldman, who managed Biden’s autopen.
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have launched investigations into Biden over the use of the autopen, arguing that some of the pardons might have been made without the president’s assent.
Biden claimed that he made each one of the clemency decisions.
“I made every single one of those. And — including the categories, when we set this up to begin with. And so — but I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so — yes, I made every decision,” he said.
Last week, Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s White House physician, repeatedly declined to answer questions during a deposition before Congress about Biden’s health status and the use of the autopen. O’Connor said he would not answer questions based on his Fifth Amendment rights and the physician-patient privilege.
