{"id":147870,"date":"2025-07-14T14:22:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/?p=147870"},"modified":"2025-07-14T14:22:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T19:22:52","slug":"say-what-biden-tells-ny-times-he-authorized-every-single-one-of-those-signatures-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/say-what-biden-tells-ny-times-he-authorized-every-single-one-of-those-signatures-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Say what? Biden tells NY Times he authorized \u2018every single one of those\u2019 signatures . . . sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/em><\/span> WorldTribune<\/strong> Staff<\/em><\/span><\/span>, July 14, 2025 <\/em>Real World News<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Joe Biden insisted in an interview with The New York Times that while he “did not individually approve” of the many pardons issued in his waning days in the White House he “made the decisions” and approved of the use of the autopen.<\/p>\n

\"\"Biden “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed,” the Times report said.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

In addition to telling the Times that he orally communicated his decisions to aides \u2014 a possible tell that there might be a lack of papered evidence showing that he directly approved the last-minute pardons \u2014 Biden noted both that the autopen was used liberally because there were “a whole lot of people” and that he did not personally approve every individual categorical clemency.<\/p>\n

“Well, first of all, there’s categories. So, you know, they aren’t reading names off for the commutations for those who had been home confinements for, during the pandemic,” said Biden. “So the only things that really we read off names for were, for example, you know, was I, what was I going to do about, for example, Mark Milley?”<\/p>\n

“I told them I wanted to make sure he had a pardon because I knew exactly what Trump would do \u2014 without any merit, I might add,” continued Biden. “And you know, you know, members of the Jan. 6 committee \u2014 it’s just, there were no \u2014 I was deeply involved. I laid out a strategy how I want to go about these, dealing with pardons and commutations. I was \u2014 and I pulled the team in to say this is how I want to get it done generically and then specifically. And so, you know, that’s just \u2014 this is how it worked.”<\/p>\n

Biden signed off on categories for large-scale commutations, such as nonviolent drug offenders, according to the report. Specific names were added by the Bureau of Prisons in line with Biden\u2019s directives, and the autopen was then used to sign final versions of those lists.<\/p>\n

“I made every single one of those,” Biden said regarding the clemency decisions late in his term. “And \u2014 including the categories, when we set this up to begin with. And so \u2014 but I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so \u2014 yes, I made every decision.”<\/p>\n

Republicans, led by House Oversight Chair James Comer and Sen. Ron Johnson, are investigating whether Biden\u2019s aides used the autopen without his direct involvement, suggesting he may have been mentally impaired or unaware of the decisions being made in his name.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June directing his administration to investigate the use of the autopen and Biden\u2019s mental fitness.<\/p>\n

When asked about the Times article on Monday, Trump reiterated his view that Biden had no idea what was signed in his name.<\/p>\n

Biden claimed in the interview with The Times that the clemency actions were deliberated over in meetings where he gave oral approval, which was then documented by aides. Staff Secretary Stefanie Feldman managed the autopen process and only initiated its use after receiving detailed summaries, or \u201cblurbs,\u201d confirming Biden\u2019s verbal instructions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consciously made all those decisions,\u201d Biden said. \u201cEverybody knows how vindictive [Trump] is, so we knew that they\u2019d do what they\u2019re doing now.”<\/p>\n

Notably, Biden signed only one of the pardons issued in the waning days of his time in the White House, the full and unconditional pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n

For high-profile cases, Biden insisted in the interview that he discussed each one directly with aides.<\/p>\n

Biden also explained his decision not to commute the sentences of three federal death row inmates convicted of terrorism or hate crimes, saying doing so \u201cwould have been a bridge too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration, along with House and Senate Republicans, has launched an investigation into the use of the autopen. Emails related to \u201cclemency,\u201d \u201cpardon,\u201d and \u201ccommutation\u201d from November 2024 to January 2025 have already been turned over by the National Archives.<\/p>\n

Congressional Republicans have subpoenaed several former Biden aides and requested interviews with more than a dozen, including Ron Klain, Mike Donilon, and Anita Dunn. Some aides have refused to testify, citing the Fifth Amendment or doctor-patient confidentiality, while others have retained legal representation from major DC firms.<\/p>\n

Biden has retained new personal legal counsel, hiring Amy Jeffress after parting ways with longtime attorney Bob Bauer.<\/p>\n

\n

Beat The Press <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by WorldTribune Staff, July 14, 2025 Real World News Joe Biden insisted in an interview with The New York Times that while he “did not individually approve” of the many pardons issued in his waning days in the White House he “made the decisions” and approved of the use of the autopen. Biden “did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":147874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,10,11,12,5],"tags":[137,6],"class_list":["post-147870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-rest-of-the-best","category-top-stories","category-washington","category-world-links","category-world-tribune","tag-say-what-biden-tells-ny-times-he-authorized-every-single-one-of-those-signatures-sort-of","tag-worldtribune-com","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}