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'Should be prosecuted': House Republicans zero in on Biden autopen pardons after bombshell report
'Should be prosecuted': House Republicans zero in on Biden autopen pardons after bombshell report

Fox News

time6 days ago

  • Politics
  • Fox News

'Should be prosecuted': House Republicans zero in on Biden autopen pardons after bombshell report

House Republicans are calling for more scrutiny on the roughly 1,500 commutation orders signed by President Joe Biden toward the end of his term after revelations that an autopen was used for a significant number of them. "Americans deserve accountability of their leaders. If an autopen was used to pardon hundreds of people, thousands of people, including the president's son, who made that decision? Was it Joe Biden? Or was it some staffer that used an autopen?" Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., said in a brief interview with Fox News Digital. The New York Times reported earlier this month that autopen signatures were used on clemency orders in the last few months of Biden's White House tenure. Biden told the outlet he made "every decision," and the report details a meticulous process from Biden making his decision to that decision being recorded by aides and passed through a chain of email communication – suggesting the then-president had final signoff. But the report notes, "The Times has not seen the full extent of the emails, so it is impossible to capture the totality of information they contain or what else they might show about Mr. Biden's involvement in the pardon and clemency decisions." Rep. Mark Messmer, R-Ind., suggested pardon decisions carried out in the late hours of the day should be looked at in particular. "I think we need to highly scrutinize the use of autopen signatures that were initiated at 10.45 p.m., well beyond the president's normal day of cognitive activity, need to be brought into question," Messmer said. The report noted one instance where the final word on a particular set of clemency orders was sent just after 10:30 p.m. The Times had reported in July 2024, before he dropped out of the presidential race, that Biden said he would stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. due to the need for sleep. Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, argued lawmakers need more information on who was in control of those signatures for public trust. "What people want is accountability. They want to know that what was done in the name of our president who was elected, that he actually bears responsibility for that," Gill said. Another lawmaker suggested courts should even look at nullification. "Maybe some of the pardons and things like that can be rolled back," Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., said. "We'll leave it to the courts to figure that out." Rep. Andrew Cylde, R-Ga., went a step further: "That has to be corrected. It has to be investigated. And those people, really, in my opinion, should be prosecuted for stepping outside the bounds of the Constitution." The House Oversight Committee, led by Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is already investigating the Biden administration's use of autopen and whether former top White House aides concealed evidence of the then-president's mental decline. Ex-White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain is the latest person expected to appear before House investigators, with a voluntary transcribed interview scheduled for Thursday morning. Democratic allies of Biden have blasted the probe as a political spectacle rather than an honest fact-finding mission. But all the Republican lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital argued to at least some extent that Americans want accountability, though some suggested it would be beneficial to focus efforts on the future. "I have to balance my thoughts on this. I think that, you know, it's good to know what happened, to keep it from happening…but on the other hand, I really want to be focused on the future," said Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont. "But I will tell you, the speculation – although I obviously don't know 100% what's true or not – I think the speculation is very probable, just seeing who Biden was at the end of his tenure and knowing that that didn't happen overnight." Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, vice chair of the House GOP Conference, told Fox News Digital, "As far as the previous administration, what's done is done, but it's also good to highlight to the American people, okay, you were in some cases lied to." Notably, autopen is a standard and legal practice that's been used by officials in many past cases, including by President Donald Trump. House investigators are looking into whether Biden really made the final sign-off himself on key decisions, however. The office of former president Joe Biden was contacted for comment.

Biden Calls BS on ‘Liar' Trump's Autopen Conspiracy Theory
Biden Calls BS on ‘Liar' Trump's Autopen Conspiracy Theory

Yahoo

time21-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Biden Calls BS on ‘Liar' Trump's Autopen Conspiracy Theory

Former President Joe Biden once again weighed in on his successor's wild autopen conspiracy theory. In a new interview with The New York Times, Biden shut down President Donald Trump's claims that his presidential aides were secretly running the show via autopen near the end of his term. Trump has repeatedly floated theories that Biden's declining mental cognition allowed those in his circle to grant pardons and commutations on his behalf. 'I made every single one of those,' Biden said of the clemency decisions. 'I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn't focus much. Anyway, so—yes, I made every decision.' In March, Trump speculated in a late-night Truth Social post that the pardons of his perceived political enemies, including former chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, were issued 'without the knowledge or consent' of Biden because they were done by autopen. 'Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!' Trump wrote. 'The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later had to walk back Trump's comments, branding the pardons 'void, vacant, and of no further force or effect.' Biden said he used an autopen simply 'because there were a lot of them.' Aside from the pardons, he also issued commutations that protected about 1,500 people serving home confinement since the pandemic from having to return to prison; reduced the sentences of around 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders; and granted life without parole for 37 of the 40 inmates on death row, according to The Times. 'The autopen is legal,' Biden said. 'As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump. But the point is that, you know, we're talking about a whole lot of people.' Biden explained that he orally communicated his decisions to his aides, who read him a list of names and asked him what he wanted to do with each one. 'I was deeply involved,' he said. 'I laid out a strategy how I want to go about these, dealing with pardons and commutations. I was—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—this is how it worked.' Biden also said he granted preemptive pardons to his own family members because he knew that Trump would go after them. 'I know how vindictive he is. I mean, everybody knows how vindictive he is. So we knew that they'd do what they're doing now,' Biden said with a laugh. 'All it would do is, if he went after them, is run up legal bills. I just know how he operates.' The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into Biden's use of the autopen. Last week, Biden's physician Kevin O'Connor fueled conspiracy theories over the former president's mental acuity by pleading the Fifth Amendment after he was called to testify behind closed doors. Biden, however, remained defiant when asked about Trump and other Republicans' claims that he was incapacitated near the end of his term, allowing his aides to abuse the autopen. 'They're liars. They know it,' he said. 'They've done so badly. They've lied so consistently about almost everything they're doing. The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else... I think that's what this is about.'

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