In a striking admission that’s sending ripples through Washington, former President Joe Biden has acknowledged he did not personally review every name on his sweeping clemency list—raising fresh questions about the boundaries of presidential authority, staff control, and the use of the autopen in the final hours of his presidency.

“I made every decision,” Biden insisted in an interview with The New York Times. But when pressed on why his signature was machine-generated for thousands of pardons and commutations, the former president added: “We’re talking about a lot of people.”

That understatement is fueling a growing political storm. On the night of January 19, 2025—just hours before leaving office—Biden’s then-chief of staff Jeff Zients authorized the autopen to execute one of the largest clemency actions in modern U.S. history. Among those granted last-minute clemency: James Biden, the president’s brother.

Internal emails reviewed by The Times show Zients approved the use of the autopen at 10:31 p.m., telling aides to proceed with the batch. The actual processing of those pardons fell to then-staff secretary Stefanie Feldman, who, sources say, relied on staff-submitted “blurbs” rather than direct instructions from the president himself.

The Justice Department is now investigating whether the autopen was misused—potentially as a tool to shield signs of Biden’s cognitive decline and allow staffers to make clemency decisions on his behalf. Some Republicans  have referred to is as a “shadow presidency.”

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) has opened a parallel probe, describing the affair as a “White House cover-up masquerading as a mercy mission.” Ed Martin, head of a GOP task force on government weaponization, is also pursuing evidence that Biden’s executive authority may have been effectively hijacked by his inner circle.

“It’s a crime,” Donald Trump declared. “They surrounded the Resolute Desk and used a machine to sign pardons Biden didn’t even know about. They are criminals, plain and simple.”

The controversy is particularly explosive given the political weight of some clemency decisions. In December 2024, Biden commuted 1,500 sentences and pardoned 39 individuals. Then, in his final days in office, he wiped out nearly 2,500 crack cocaine convictions with the flick of an autopen. The question now haunting the Beltway: Whose hand was really on the pen?

One of the most scrutinized cases is that of Gen. Mark Milley, the former Joint Chiefs chairman and frequent target of Trump allies. Biden defended the move. “I told them I wanted to make sure he had a pardon,” he said. “I knew exactly what Trump would do—without any merit.”

But critics argue that intent is no substitute for oversight. Though the autopen has been used by presidents since George W. Bush, its deployment at this scale—and under such opaque circumstances—is virtually unprecedented.

Biden, defiant as ever, dismissed the GOP allegations. “They’re liars,” he said. “This is about changing the subject.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)