Biden reveals why he relied on autopen to grant sweeping pardons as he insists ‘I made every decision’
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Joe Biden is fighting back against MAGA’s criticism of his use of an autopen with a rare media interview insisting he ‘made every decision.’
The ailing 82-year-old former president, who is battling prostate cancer, revealed he instructed staffers to use an autopen to grant sweeping pardons on his behalf because there were simply too many for him to sign by hand.
‘We’re talking about a whole lot of people,’ he told The New York Times in a rare interview since leaving office.
In all, the Biden administration granted more than 1,500 individuals clemency during his final weeks in the White House.
Biden said he made ‘every decision’, but revealed when it came to large groups of people, he did not individually approve the names of every single person he pardoned during his final months in the White House.
Instead, he signed off on the criteria and standards he wanted to be used to determine which criminals received reduced sentences. This placed offenders into categories, some of which were issued sweeping pardons.
His decision to speak out on the issue comes after Republicans have spent months demonizing the autopen’s usage and questioning whether Biden was ever even aware of the decisions being made.
The ailing 82-year-old, who is battling prostate cancer , revealed he instructed staffers to use an autopen to grant sweeping pardons on his behalf because there were simply too many for him to sign by hand
Trump has described the use of autopen as ‘disgraceful’ and insisted Biden ‘knew nothing about them’
Trump has described the use of autopen as ‘disgraceful’ and insisted Biden ‘knew nothing about them’, prompting three separate investigations into Biden’s clemency directives at the end of his term by the Justice Department, Congress and the administration.
Republicans in Congress have led interviews with former Biden aides and some have been warned by their outside legal counsel that the Justice Department could be scrutinizing their statements for inconsistences to to pursue perjury charges.
Biden refuted all the claims made by the Trump administration, insisting he verbally granted every pardon and commutation ultimately signed by the autopen.
He said Trump and other Republicans who insist otherwise are ‘liars.’
He said he decided to pursue clemency for high-profile figures in his administration and members of his family to prevent them getting saddled with unnecessary legal debt fighting Trump’s inevitable investigations.
‘Everybody knows how vindictive he is, so we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now,’ Biden said. ‘I consciously made all those decisions.’
As part of the investigation, tens of thousands of emails from the Biden administration between November 2024 and January 2025 have been turned over by the National Archives, a source told The New York Times.
These emails contain keywords like ‘clemency’, ‘pardon’ or ‘commutation’, and could be the key to determining how each pardon came about and Biden’s involvement.
Emails show Biden formally decided on issuing pre-emptive pardons for his family on January 19
Biden insists he verbally granted clemency and authorized the use of the autopen
They appear to show that White House staffers ran details of each clemency grant by Biden for a final check before they were made public.
On some occasions, draft announcements had to be tweaked after Biden read them because of his last minute feedback.
These could not be released until an aide confirmed Biden had approved the final wording.
In all, the autopen was used on 25 batches of clemency and pardon warrants between December and January.
Some of the warrants contained batches of names which all fell into a singular category, like when Biden changed the sentences for 37 of 40 people on federal death row to life without the possibility of parole.
But others, particularly the high profile cases, Biden clarified that he reviewed individually on a case-by-case basis.
Referring to General Mark Milley, Biden said: ‘I’ve no doubt they would have gone after Mark for no good reason.
‘I told them I wanted to make sure he had a pardon because I knew exactly what Trump would do — without any merit, I might add.’
The only pardon he personally signed by hand was reserved for his son, Hunter, shielding him from prosecution for any federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024
Emails show Biden formally decided on issuing pre-emptive pardons for his family on January 19.
The only pardon he personally signed by hand was reserved for his son, Hunter, shielding him from prosecution for any federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
Biden’s latest efforts to address the autopen saga mark the second time since leaving office he has directly responded to Trump’s criticism.
After his cancer diagnosis was made public in early June and amid Trump’s repeated questions about Biden’s mental acuity, he issued a statement which read: ‘Let me be clear, I made the decisions during my presidency.
‘I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.’
At the time, Biden said Trump was trying to draw attention away from the MAGA civil war happening over the controversial Big Beautiful Bill.
‘This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans,’ Biden said at the time.
