Biden autopen scandal deepens as NYT confirms staff, not president, approved key pardons

• The Biden administration faces scrutiny as autopen pardons lacked direct presidential approval, sparking constitutional concerns. Trump declared these pardons void, citing Biden’s alleged unawareness.
• A House Oversight Committee investigation subpoenaed aides, with some invoking the Fifth Amendment or skipping depositions, deepening suspicions of staff overreach.
• Legal experts warn machine-signed pardons may be invalid, potentially reopening cases like Fauci’s and preemptive clemencies.
• Internal emails contradict Biden’s defense, revealing aides managed clemency lists without his final review in a chaotic, undocumented process.
• The scandal fuels broader debates about executive power delegation, cognitive decline allegations, and legitimacy of Biden’s presidency.

The integrity of executive power under the Biden administration faces unprecedented scrutiny as The New York Times confirmed that former President Joe Biden did not personally approve all pardons issued at the end of his term, including a controversial pardon for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Instead, White House staff, led by Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, used an autopen device to execute clemency decisions without direct presidential approval for specific names, igniting a constitutional firestorm and a House Oversight Committee investigation.

A constitutional crisis in the making

The revelations strike at the heart of presidential authority. According to the Times, Biden’s staffers finalized clemency orders through the autopen even after last-minute revisions—revisions that Biden allegedly never reviewed. Emails show Zients approved the autopen’s use for pardons at 10:31 p.m. on January 19, 2025, just hours before Biden’s term ended. Among the pardons signed this way was one for Fauci, a lightning rod for criticism over his deception during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump has seized on the scandal, declaring Biden’s autopen pardons “void” and accusing the administration of concealing Biden’s cognitive decline. “I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing,” Trump stated, framing the autopen use as part of a “dangerous and concerning scandal.”

House oversight demands answers

The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), has launched a full-scale investigation, subpoenaing Biden aides like Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, who skipped his deposition, and White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly when questioned about Biden’s health.

Neera Tanden, Biden’s former Domestic Policy Council director, testified that she was authorized to use the autopen without confirming each action with Biden—a revelation that further fuels claims of unchecked staff overreach. While Tanden denied wrongdoing, her admission underscores the opacity of decision-making in the Biden White House.

The scandal raises profound questions: Can pardons signed by machine, not the president’s hand, hold legal weight? Legal experts warn that the Constitution requires direct presidential involvement in clemency decisions. If courts rule the autopen pardons invalid, hundreds of cases could unravel, including Fauci’s and preemptive pardons for January 6 committee members.

The autopen scandal epitomizes a broader pattern of unelected officials wielding presidential power. “The Biden administration conducted the most egregious cover-up scheme in American politics,” a Trump spokesperson asserted, accusing aides of exploiting Biden’s alleged cognitive decline to advance their agenda.

Biden’s defense falls flat

In a rare interview, Biden insisted he orally granted the pardons and blamed staff for autopen use. Yet internal emails contradict his claims, showing aides managed final pardon lists without his explicit sign-off. Even The New York Times, which is typically sympathetic to Biden, noted he did not review individual names in categorical pardons, only “general criteria.”

The Times reviewed emails revealing a hurried, chaotic process. On Biden’s final night, aides scrambled until 10 p.m. to draft pardons, with Zients emailing autopen approval three minutes after receiving the list. Notably, Biden allegedly rescinded a pardon for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman after late-second thoughts in a decision made without formal documentation.

The autopen scandal transcends partisan politics. If presidential actions can be delegated to staff without accountability, the very essence of executive authority is undermined. Trump’s promise to investigate the Biden family and “political rivals” adds fuel to the fire, with conservatives framing the scandal as proof of a corrupt “deep state” manipulating a weakened president.

As the Oversight Committee’s probe intensifies, many Americans are wondering: Who truly governed in Biden’s final days? And will the Supreme Court be forced to reckon with the legitimacy of his presidency?

Sources for this article include:

YourNews.com

NYTimes.com

FoxNews.com