Newly uncovered internal documents shed fresh light on former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen and alleged outsourcing of decision-making during his final year in office.
The former president has insisted that he personally made all decisions regarding pardons, executive orders and proclamations, calling claims to the contrary “ridiculous and false.” However, internal memos and emails indicate that critical decisions — including clemencies — were quietly delegated to others, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, and it remains unclear whether Biden formally approved certain decisions, multiple outlets reported on Thursday.
Biden aides initially insisted he personally sign by hand any official presidential actions. But by the end of his term, the standard had been abandoned, according to an internal memo obtained by Just the News.
“Based on precedent from the Obama-Biden Administration regarding which documents generally are hand-signed by the President, our recommendation is that as a general rule, YOU personally approve and hand-sign all decisions that require Presidential action,” reads a February 2021 draft memo distributed to top White House officials.
By February 2024, authorization for clemency actions increasingly relied on Harris’ approval, according to a draft memo circulated by the White House Counsel’s office obtained by Just the News.
“Given the President’s schedule, it can often take days or weeks for the President to review and approve the clemency package,” the lawyers’ memo reads. “The Chief of Staff’s office has been helpful in getting the paper in front of him for his review.”
“He previously asked the White House Counsel to discuss the candidates with him, although in the last round the Vice President’s approval was sufficient to obtain his approval,” the lawyers noted.
The Trump White House concluded that this memo shows the former president was effectively “outsourcing” clemency decisions to Harris during his final year.
During his four years in the White House, Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency, more than any previous president on record, according to the Pew Research Center. All of Biden’s pardons from December to January — including those for family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley — were reportedly signed by autopen, except for the preemptive pardon for his son Hunter.
Internal emails cast further doubt on whether Biden approved the commutations of roughly 2,500 inmates jailed for crack cocaine offenses in January, the New York Post reported.
On Jan. 16, then-White House Staff Secretary Stef Feldman wrote to the West Wing lawyers requesting evidence that Biden had approved the commutations, according to emails obtained by the outlet. Then-Deputy White House Counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded the message to Michael Posada, chief of staff to the White House counsel’s office, for guidance.
“Michael, thoughts on how to handle this?” Dixon asked, adding that the president “doesn’t review the warrants” in reference to the documents authorizing clemency.
However, Posada’s response suggests that aides instead relied on then-Deputy Assistant to the President Rosa Po’s attestation of what the president “intended” to do, and it remains unclear whether Biden gave final authorization.
“We will just need something from Rosa once the documents are ready confirming that the 21 people commuted to home confinement are who the president signed off on in the document titled X, and the # individuals listed in document titled Y are those with crack powder disparities who the president intended to commute,” Posada wrote.
“Basically, something from Rosa making clear that the documents accurately reflect his decision. If you can give me a blurb whenever they are ready to suggest to Rosa, I can pass along,” Posada added.
The sentences of several individuals convicted of illegally possessing firearms, as well as two men whose actions resulted in the death of a police officer, were commuted as part of the sweeping action.
There were four meetings between December and January during which Biden was said to have given “verbal approval” for his wide-ranging clemency actions, according to Just the News. While retroactive emails indicate his presence, the National Archives had no staff notes confirming his attendance at the meetings or that he provided verbal approval.
The internal memos and emails were discovered as part of the Trump White House’s investigation into whether Biden aides “conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”
A former Biden White House staffer familiar with the pardon process denied that the president outsourced decision-making, according to the New York Post.
“There is a concerted and willful blindness by Republicans when it comes to understanding how broad-based pardons work when they were issued by President Biden,” the source said, according to the outlet.
President Donald Trump is installing a “Presidential Wall of Fame” in the Rose Garden and will be hanging a “Biden Autopen” portrait to mark the Biden presidency, he told the Daily Caller in an exclusive interview on Friday.
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