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| Government Corruption |
| Bombshell memos: Biden aides believed he should sign pardons by hand, he outsourced approval to VP |
| 2025-09-06 |
| [JustTheNews] The new internal memos from the Biden White House are the first glimpse into the Trump administration’s probe into the former president’s mental decline and the abundant use of his autopen signature. Internal memos obtained by Just the News show President Joe Biden’s aides believed at the beginning of his administration that he had an obligation to personally sign official presidential actions, including pardons, and chronicle how the former president later outsourced clemency decisions to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The memos were gathered as part of a sweeping review by the Trump White House into Biden's use of autopen signatures for official business, an inquiry that now raises new questions about whether the former president actually attended four meetings late in his term dedicated to making clemency decisions. Those clemency decisions included pre-emptive pardons for Biden family members as well as commutations for federal death row sentences. No records of Biden attending meetings that resulted in clemency The National Archives and Records Administration told the Trump White House Counsel's office that "we did not find specific meeting notes that clearly mention or note that the President was present" for any of the four meetings, according to the documents reviewed by Just the News. "President Biden’s decision memo on commuting federal death row sentences is unmarked, and NARA cannot find a version indicating President Biden’s approval," the documents added. The Office of Joe and Jill Biden did not respond to a request for comment sent through its contact page. The Pew Research Center reported that Biden "granted more acts of clemency than any previous chief executive on record" and noted that "overall, Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency during his four-year tenure in the White House." In June, President Donald Trump ordered the White House Counsel to lead an investigation into whether any senior administration officials had “conspired to deceive the public” about the former president’s mental state and exercise his authority and responsibilities. Trump then specifically directed the investigators to probe the use of the autopen on official documents or clemency actions. Memo: Policy started out requiring hand signature on pardon letters The White House investigation uncovered an early memo that shows a day one administration policy to use an “original hand signature” for pardons had been abandoned by Biden’s final year in office, when the autopen was frequently used to sign orders as part of the president’s prolific clemency spree. Within one month of Biden taking office, the White House Staff Secretary Jess Hertz disseminated that draft memo, outlining the official policies that would govern whether certain presidential actions would require a handwritten signature from the new president or would be eligible for the autopen. That February 2021 draft memo states unequivocally that senior staff would recommend the president personally sign “pardon letters” with an “original hand signature,” according to a copy of the document provided to Just the News. The staff secretary wrote that the determination was based on the precedents established during the Obama-Biden administration. “Based on precedent from the Obama-Biden Administration regarding which documents generally are hand-signed by the President, our recommendation is that as a general rule, YOU personally approve and hand-sign all decisions that require Presidential action,” the memo reads. The records show the draft memo was distributed to Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Bruce Reed, and Director of White House Oval Office Operations Annie Tomasini. However, there is no record of any final version of the memorandum in the National Archives, the review found. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2025-09-06 08:45 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2025-09-05 10:27 |