(The Daily Signal) — The so-called autopen scandal appears to be getting worse for former President Joe Biden as more information comes to light.
Biden, some of his former staffers, and a handful of thought leaders in the Democratic Party have attempted to triage the message about the inner workings of the previous presidential administration. But tangible evidence is mounting that it was effectively run like a kind of politburo.
The New York Times released an interesting report Sunday afternoon that included a short interview with Biden saying he made decisions on clemency that were carried out with an autopen. In the final month of his presidency, Biden pardoned a number of high-profile people and granted clemency to an additional 1,500.
High-profile examples included his son, Hunter Biden, members of the Jan. 6 committee, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley.
“Everybody knows how vindictive [President Donald Trump] is, so we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now,” Biden said in the Times interview. “I consciously made all those decisions.”
Some of the people on the 1,500-person list were violent criminals, including virtually everyone on death row.
Biden insisted that he was “conscious” of all his administration’s decisions (a contention not helped by his rambling responses).
But snippets from the Times’ report calls that claim into question.
“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed,” the Times reported. “Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.”
On Biden’s last day in office Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients gave approval to use the autopen in the cases of Fauci and Milley, according to the Times.
In addition, the Times reported that Biden’s staff who drafted the blurbs for acts of clemency admitted that they weren’t in the room with the president when approval for signing them was made.
NYT reporting on Biden pardons starts by repeating him saying he made the clemency decisions…but then buries his staff’s admission that he actually didn’t, and that the staffers sending those decisions to the autopen weren’t actually in the room when Biden allegedly gave his say… pic.twitter.com/woCOJyafxg
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) July 14, 2025
Whatever the intent of Biden or this report, it certainly didn’t clear up the suspicion that Biden wasn’t mentally competent to make decisions and that his staff and perhaps other people were essentially usurping executive power they didn’t have.
When you combine that with the recent decision by Biden’s White House doctor to continually plead the Fifth Amendment to remain silent at a recent closed-door House hearing and former first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff Anthony Bernal suddenly becoming uncooperative with the autopen investigation, it certainly raises suspicion.
And that’s a potentially enormous scandal, even bigger than the media’s cover-up of the president’s health. Not only was the country put in danger with an out-to-lunch commander in chief, but members of his staff may have been wielding unconstitutional powers on his behalf.
Trump said to reporters Monday that the autopen scandal may be one of the biggest in American history, and he may be correct.
.@POTUS: "The autopen I think is maybe one of the biggest scandals that we've had in 50-100 years. This is a tremendous scandal… I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing. I guarantee it." pic.twitter.com/ozngUkINSz
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 14, 2025
It’s a big stinking deal, to paraphrase Biden in his more lucid days.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X that “as a legal matter, that ANY pardon Biden did not ‘individually approve’ is NULL & VOID.”
🚨🚨 This NYT sentence:
“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed.
That means, as a legal matter, that ANY pardon Biden did not “individually approve” is NULL & VOID. https://t.co/CH2FYc9Jmn
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 14, 2025
Cruz may have come to this conclusion based on the testimony of a witness at a recent Senate hearing on the autopen use and abuse. Cruz asked Theodore Wold, a visiting fellow for law and technology policy at The Heritage Foundation, whether an executive order signed by a staffer who autopen signs it without the president’s knowledge is legally binding.
Wold answered, “No.”
‘HAIL TO THE PEN’: @SenTedCruz Torches Biden’s Use of Autopen as an ‘Assault on Democracy’
Since July 2022, the vast majority of Biden’s executive orders—including every single one in 2025—were signed by an autopen, not the president.
Is that legal? No. Is that democratic? Not… pic.twitter.com/Pc5QTDqBXN
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) June 18, 2025
Unfortunately, there is very little precedent here to rely on to determine what the status of those pardons is. So, this may end up being more of a political battle than a legal dilemma.
I suspect this is why close associates of Biden are becoming closed lipped. This is about more than just Biden’s legacy or the media’s shame. It’s about whether Biden’s pardons are legally binding. It’s about whether members of the Biden White House misused their power. Did they commit fraud?
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., who is the chairman of a Senate committee looking into the autopen use, suggested that’s a possibility.
They may have broken several federal laws:
– Fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1001)
– Forgery (18 U.S.C. § 471)
– Misuse of Government Property (18 U.S.C. § 641)
– Conspiracy to Defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371)
– Obstruction of Justice (18 U.S.C. § 1503 or § 1512) pic.twitter.com/D9WfO1mQNz— Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) July 14, 2025
One way or another, the American people deserve answers.
This article was originally published by The Daily Signal.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not represent an official position of Alpha News.
