Former President Joe Biden confirmed in an interview over the weekend that he’d relied on his infamous “autopen” to hand out sweeping pardons, though he still adamantly maintained that he was in charge the whole time.
Speaking with The New York Times, both he and his aides admitted that he didn’t personally approve each pardon and act of clemency that his administration had filed — meaning that an “autopen” stamp containing his signature almost assuredly had to be used by somebody else.
“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 [emphasis added]. “Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted.”
(There is one notable and documented exception.)
Joe Biden’s January 19th “pardons” were all identical. NYT just confirmed that his staff authorized the use of autopen for them.
Fauci, Milley, J6 Committee, etc. pic.twitter.com/plt6Tjvw28
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 14, 2025
But despite admitting that he didn’t “individually approve” each pardon, former President Biden still staunchly maintained to the Times that each pardon was “authorized” by him.
“I made every decision,” he said, adding that he gave oral permission for the categorical pardons.
Supporters of the Biden administration have defended this seeming inconsistency by arguing that it would have been near-impossible for him to approve the over 8,000 acts of clemency — including both pardons and commutations — that were filed during his administration.
Should the pardons and commutations signed by autopen be suspended?
Note that during President Donald Trump’s first administration, there were fewer than 300 total acts of clemency.
Biden critics, meanwhile, have expressed deep doubt about the former president’s assertion:
BREAKING:
Biden says he made EVERY SINGLE clemency decision.
I call BS.
— Mila Joy (@MilaLovesJoe) July 14, 2025
The Times’ bombshell report comes amid ongoing investigations by congressional Republicans and the Trump Department of Justice into the Biden’s administration’s use of the “autopen.”
“The House Oversight Committee will continue pursuing answers about this historic scandal to prevent such an abuse from happening again,” committee chair Rep. James Comer of Kentucky told Axios.
Members of the right are convinced that the Biden administration’s frequent use of the “autopen” was a result of Biden’s health issues.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” President Donald Trump himself wrote in a memo sent last month to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts,” the president added.
Biden staffers have also been accused of profiting off of the autopen:
Thank you Fox News and Jesse Watters for covering our reporting yesterday on the shocking Biden auto-Pen scandal.
Rep. Tim Burchett revealed Biden staffers may have taken massive payouts in exchange for +8,000 pardons as Joe suffered from terminal cancer and cognitive collapse.… pic.twitter.com/xXaWTA8BEx
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 21, 2025
All this also comes only days after Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment while testifying to the House Oversight Committee about the former president’s health.
O’Connor’s legal team later said that the invocations were needed to protect the “confidential patient information” of former President Biden.
Conservatives believe the invocations were needed because the truth would have laid bare the cover-up of the former president’s health.
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