Former President Joe Biden has defended his administration’s use of an autopen device for signing pardons and commutations, addressing Republican criticism as untruthful while acknowledging that his staff managed the details of thousands of clemency decisions during his last weeks in office.
In a phone interview with the New York Times in early July, Biden stated he made every decision about the clemencies issued during his presidency, conceding that his staff replicated his signature due to the high volume of people involved. The 46th president’s team used an autopen to sign 25 warrants for pardons and commutations in December and January, with two of those involving clemency for individuals with thousands of dollars in outstanding fines.
On December 12, Biden commuted approximately 1,500 sentences and granted pardons to 39 additional individuals. Three days before leaving office, he reduced the sentences of nearly 2,500 federal inmates who had been convicted of crack cocaine offenses. The Times reported that Biden approved the criteria for eligibility for pardons or commutations, while his team managed the specific details of each case.
The autopen process was overseen by former staff secretary Stefanie Feldman, who operated the device after receiving written confirmations that Biden had ostensibly ordered its use. However, most aides who drafted these confirmations were not present to hear Biden give the orders, according to The New York Times investigation.
Emails from a meeting on Biden’s final night in office, January 19, indicate the former president decided to issue preemptive pardons to family members, including his brother James Biden, with hours remaining in his term. After messages summarizing the meeting were distributed among top Biden advisers, then-White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients wrote in an email at 10:31 p.m. authorizing the use of the autopen for executing all subsequent pardons.
When staffers made changes to clemency lists, they waited until the final versions were produced before running them through the autopen, rather than requesting that Biden sign each version. The autopen technology has been employed since at least the Truman administration to reproduce presidential signatures on official documents.
President Donald Trump has raised questions about the legitimacy of documents signed by Biden via autopen, claiming that Biden’s aides engaged in wrongdoing by using the device. Trump recently stated on The Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that individuals around the Resolute Desk operated the autopen and signed documents that should not have been signed.
Biden responded to Trump’s criticism by suggesting the president lacks focus. “I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much,” Biden told the Times. The former president emphasized that he made every decision regarding clemencies, highlighting his approval of a pardon for General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Biden expressed his desire to ensure Milley received a pardon because he anticipated Trump’s actions without merit, expressing concern about Trump’s vindictive nature toward the general. The former president stated he had no doubt Republicans would have pursued Milley for no valid reason.
Addressing Republican speculation that his staff misused the autopen technology to conceal his mental state, Biden accused them of consistently lying. He described Republican claims as an attempt to divert attention from their own shortcomings, suggesting they were trying to distract from their failures by focusing on something else.
Trump has maintained that Biden’s aides are criminals who should face consequences for their actions. The president expressed belief that individuals took control of the autopen and that Biden was unaware of what he was signing, labeling their actions as crimes that should not be forgotten.
Last month, the Justice Department started investigating the autopen issue to determine whether White House aides may have misused presidential signatures. This investigation aims to assess the integrity of the signature process during Biden’s final weeks in office.
Journalist Mark Halperin questioned why expert analysis of Biden’s autopen use was absent from the Times interview, suggesting the publication lacked sufficient examination of the former president’s signature practices. The controversy has become part of broader questions about the final days of Biden’s presidency and the extent of staff involvement in official decisions.
