The piece, based on emails obtained by Axios, reveals high-ranking officials' repeated questions and criticisms regarding the decision-making process for controversial pardons and the extensive reliance on an autopen—a machine that replicates a signature—for signing executive actions.
This chaos, occurring as Biden, then 82, wrapped up his term, has fueled ongoing investigations by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee and provided fodder for President Trump to defend his own pardon decisions.
The article sets the stage by highlighting the unprecedented scale of Biden's clemency actions.
Following backlash over his December 1, 2024, pardon of his son Hunter, the White House accelerated efforts to identify more recipients for clemency, often bypassing traditional vetting by the Justice Department.
A source familiar with the process described it as a "mad dash" to find groups eligible for pardons, with little input from DOJ officials.
Ultimately, Biden granted clemency to 4,245 individuals—the highest number in U.S. history— with over 95% of these occurring in the last three and a half months of his presidency, according to Pew Research data cited in the article.
Many of these, including pardons for family members, were executed via autopen rather than Biden's personal signature.
A key focus is the unique process for pardoning Biden's relatives, which deviated from earlier precedents.
Early in his term, in 2021, staff secretary Jess Hertz had memoed Biden, referencing Obama-era practices to advocate for using original signatures on pardon letters.
By 2025, however, the autopen was employed for pardons of five family members, including his brother and sister, who faced accusations of exploiting the Biden name for financial gain.
The decision involved a meeting with First Lady Jill Biden's top aide, Anthony Bernal.
An email from Chief of Staff Jeff Zients at 10:31 p.m. on January 19, 2025—mere hours before Biden's departure from office—authorized the autopen for these pardons.
The message, reading "I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all the following pardons. Thanks, JZ," was actually sent by Zients' aide, Rosa Po, who had access to his account, though a source close to Zients confirmed he authorized it.
Neither Zients, Po, Hertz, nor a Biden spokesperson responded to Axios' requests for comment.
Senior Justice Department officials voiced strong objections to the White House Counsel's office, led by Ed Siskel, who oversaw the late-term clemency push but also declined comment.
On January 17, 2025, Biden issued 2,490 commutations in a single day—the most ever—targeting those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses with disproportionately long sentences.
Biden publicly boasted of surpassing all previous presidents in individual pardons and commutations.
However, the following day, DOJ senior ethics attorney Bradley Weinsheimer issued a blistering memo, labeling the "nonviolent" characterization as "untrue, or at least misleading."
He lamented the lack of opportunity for DOJ to vet recipients despite repeated requests.
Weinsheimer detailed examples of violent offenders who received clemency, such as a man who pleaded guilty to murder-related charges after killing a woman and her 2-year-old daughter to silence her about his drug operations.
Despite DOJ flagging him as "problematic," his sentence was commuted.
Weinsheimer questioned whether Biden knew these backgrounds, noting, "I have no idea if the president was aware."
A 34-year DOJ veteran, Weinsheimer resigned in protest in February 2025 after reassignment by Trump appointees, as referenced in a Reuters link within the article.
The New York Post had earlier reported on his memo and related emails.
Further DOJ dissent came from pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who expressed frustration over White House interference in death row cases.
White House lawyers instructed DOJ not to solicit views from victims' families if not already done, affecting 10 inmates who hadn't applied for clemency.
After the clemency wave, Oyer sent an apologetic email to U.S. attorney offices, per sources who viewed it.
Notably, Oyer had been dismissed by the Trump administration for similar concerns about their pardon process, as detailed in a New York Times article linked in the piece.
Biden, in a July 2025 New York Times interview cited by Axios, insisted, "I made every decision," attributing autopen use to the volume of cases: "we're talking about a whole lot of people."
Yet, records show he only needed to sign a few documents per batch, undermining this rationale.
Internally, White House staff secretary Stef Feldman pushed back on autopen requests, demanding confirmation of Biden's approval.
On January 7, 2025, she queried, "When did we get [Biden's] approval of this?" regarding an executive order.
On January 16, for crack-cocaine sentence commutations, she insisted on email confirmation from Rosa Po that Biden had signed off.
The article zooms out to broader implications: Trump has invoked Biden's methods to legitimize his pardons for allies involved in 2020 election challenges or donor-linked figures.
Looking ahead, Zients is scheduled for a House Oversight interview on September 18, 2025, about autopen usage.
Accompanied by a photo illustration of Biden amid collapsing American symbols, the piece underscores themes of administrative disarray and ethical lapses in Biden's waning days, drawing from exclusive emails and insider accounts to paint a picture of rushed, contentious decisions that continue to reverberate in Washington's political landscape.
Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
