Former President Joe Biden only signed one pardon by hand during his final weeks in office, and it was his most controversial one.
The Justice Department is reviewing the list of people granted pardons by Biden amid new concerns about his use of an autopen to automatically sign documents and concerns about his state of mind and mental acuity in his final months in office.
Biden used his final weeks as commander in chief to grant clemency and pardon more than 1,500 people in what his White House described as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.
Biden appears to have signed those final pardons, including preemptive pardons for members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members and staff of the House committee investigating Jan. 6.
But the former president signed one by hand for his son. Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December 2024 after vowing to the American people for months he would not do so.
Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony gun offenses during special counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes over his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.
Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea.
Former President Biden in December 2024 announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.
“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the former president said.
“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
Weiss, who charged Hunter Biden, blasted the former president for pardoning his son, saying his characterizations of the yearslong probe were “wrong” and “unfairly” maligned Justice Department officials.
Weiss, in the report, blasted the president’s decision to pardon and the press release to the public that “criticized the prosecution of his son as ‘selective,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘infected’ by ‘raw politics’ and a ‘miscarriage of justice.’”
“This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.”
In another section of the report, Weiss noted that, in light of the presidential pardon, he “cannot make any additional charging decisions,” adding it would be “inappropriate” to discuss “whether additional charges are warranted.”
“Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.
“The President’s characterizations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong.”
Biden’s use of an autopen for signatures is under investigation by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
President Donald Trump directed Bondi to investigate whether certain individuals working for Biden conspired to deceive the public about his mental state while also exercising his presidential responsibilities by using an autopen.
In a memo Wednesday, Trump said the president of the U.S. has a tremendous amount of power and responsibility through the signature. Not only can the signature turn words into laws of the land, but it also appoints individuals to some of the highest positions in government, creates or eliminates national policies and allows prisoners to go free.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” Trump wrote.
“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”
He added that Biden has experienced “serious cognitive decline” for years, and the Department of Justice recently concluded Biden should not stand trial despite clear evidence he broke the law, because of his mental state.
“Biden’s cognitive issues and apparent mental decline during his presidency were even ‘worse’ in private, and those closest to him ‘tried to hide it’ from the public,” Trump said. “To do so, Biden’s advisors during his years in office severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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