Internal emails obtained by The New York Post reveal frantic debate inside the Biden White House over one of the largest clemency actions in American history — raising new questions about whether the outgoing president personally approved thousands of commutations before aides affixed his autopen signature.

On Jan. 11, 2025, President Biden reportedly gave oral approval to commute sentences for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses. But his mechanical signature was not added to three sweeping clemency warrants covering roughly 2,500 inmates until the early hours of Jan. 17 — just three days before he left office.

White House staff scrambled late into the night of Jan. 16 to finalize the documents. Staff Secretary Stef Feldman, a key gatekeeper of the autopen, demanded written proof that Biden had actually signed off before she authorized one of the most consequential acts of clemency in U.S. history.

“I’m going to need email… confirming P[resident] signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,” Feldman wrote to colleagues at 9:16 p.m.

Minutes later, Deputy White House Counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded the concern to her chief of staff: “He doesn’t review the warrants.”

Emails show aides leaning on Deputy Assistant Rosa Po’s earlier statement that Biden had expressed his “intention” to grant the commutations days earlier. Counsel’s office staff scrambled to draft language confirming that the documents reflected the president’s wishes — even though Biden himself did not directly review the final warrants.

The clemency order was issued at 4:59 a.m. the next morning.

The sudden announcement blindsided Justice Department officials, who had not yet received the list of affected inmates. When the files finally arrived, DOJ lawyers balked at vague wording in one warrant that referred to “offenses described to the Department of Justice” without specifying crimes.

“We do not know how to interpret this,” one DOJ official wrote in an email that night. Another senior official warned that because “no offenses have been described… the commutations do not take effect.”

While many beneficiaries were low-level offenders, the warrants also covered violent criminals — including Russell McIntosh, convicted of murdering a North Carolina woman and her two-year-old child in 1999. Some inmates had their sentences merely reduced, not eliminated, leaving ambiguity over how the commutations should be enforced.

Biden had previously defended the use of autopen, telling The New York Times it was necessary because “there were a lot of them.” But critics say the new emails suggest staff, not the president, effectively controlled the process.

“‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ might be a funny movie, but the president not being in control of the White House is a horror,” a Trump official told The Post.

Biden allies insist he made the decisions himself and accuse Republicans of a double standard, noting GOP acceptance of President Trump’s broad clemency for January 6 rioters.

Legal experts say autopen signatures carry full legal authority — but only if they accurately reflect presidential orders. The emails suggest aides were working furiously to create a paper trail that proved just that.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)