Posted on 09/05/2025 11:43:56 AM PDT by Red Badger
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
“Leave it up to the wino. She’ll agree to anything.
So, the question remains the same, Whatch’ya gonna do about it?
So Hunter’s pardon is likely the only valid one of the whole bunch.
p
This is another case of: We all know what happened, it’s obvious and there will be no accountability. However, the Republicans will milk it like a dairy cow.
Then Harris decided to pardon EVERYONE ? LOL
It is a fair question to ask just exactly what Biden didn’t know and how long he didn’t know it.
“Presidential Wall of Fame” in the Rose Garden and will be hanging a “Biden Autopen”
Biden’s WH time in history has been noted.
We know what the Democrats will do. They will lie.
Cool. I hope that whole gang gets their comeuppance.
Hedley Lamarr:
If you will just sign this, Governor. Right here.
Governor Lepetomane:
Yes, yes. What the hell is it?
Hedley Lamarr:
Well, under the provisions of this bill, we would snatch Two hundred thousand acres of Indian land, which we have deemed unsuitable for their use at this time. They’re such children.
Governor Lepetomane:
Two hundred thousand acres? Two hundred thousand acres? What’ll it cost, man, what’ll it cost?
Hedley Lamarr:
[brings out a carton of paddleballs]
A box of these.
Governor Lepetomane:
Are you crazy? They’ll never go for it. And then again they might. Those little red devils... they love toys!
CORRECT! I see this coming to a head, Biden makes an appearance somewhere and says that he personally approved all the pardons, and he just had someone else use the autopen.
Then what? This feels like a useless distraction to me.
Auto pen should never be used except for anything ceremonial
What about the first year in office, the Second year and the third year?
Even if Biden signed the documents, did he really intend to sign the documents or was he simply performing like a trained seal?
I suspect that Biden's penmanship eventually deteriorated to the point that the Autopen was forced upon the people behind the throne to keep the secret that Biden was mentally absent from the Whitehouse and had been from the beginning.
By the forth year the Biden administration had backed themselves in to a corner. They had to keep producing presidential documents to keep the lie alive.
It was that or admit that Biden was incapacitated. If they admitted the truth the obvious question would be 'For how long had the president been incapacitated and who knew and how long did they know it?
If Biden had been incapasitated for more than a year, or worse from the beginning and Harris had known from the beginning (she campaigned with him, she had to know) this would arguably be an act of treason disqualifying her from taking office as the president.
This could easily cascade through those eligible to assume the presidency under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 and the 25th Amendment given that all those people were High Level Democrats who should have had enough access to the president to have known at some point that the president was not fit to hold office.
Pres. Otto Penn.
No matter what goes on. There’s always someone who says this is a distraction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.