Former President Joe Biden once again weighed in on his successor’s wild autopen conspiracy theory.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Biden shut down President Donald Trump’s claims that his presidential aides were secretly running the show via autopen near the end of his term. Trump has repeatedly floated theories that Biden’s declining mental cognition allowed those in his circle to grant pardons and commutations on his behalf.
“I made every single one of those,” Biden said of the clemency decisions. “I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so—yes, I made every decision.”
In March, Trump speculated in a late-night Truth Social post that the pardons of his perceived political enemies, including former chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, were issued “without the knowledge or consent” of Biden because they were done by autopen.
“Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” Trump wrote. “The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later had to walk back Trump’s comments, branding the pardons “void, vacant, and of no further force or effect.”
Biden said he used an autopen simply “because there were a lot of them.” Aside from the pardons, he also issued commutations that protected about 1,500 people serving home confinement since the pandemic from having to return to prison; reduced the sentences of around 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders; and granted life without parole for 37 of the 40 inmates on death row, according to The Times.
“The autopen is legal,” Biden said. “As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump. But the point is that, you know, we’re talking about a whole lot of people.”
Biden explained that he orally communicated his decisions to his aides, who read him a list of names and asked him what he wanted to do with each one.
“I was deeply involved,” he said. “I laid out a strategy how I want to go about these, dealing with pardons and commutations. I was—and I pulled the team in to say this is how I want to get it done generically and then specifically. And so, you know, that’s just—this is how it worked.”
Biden also said he granted preemptive pardons to his own family members because he knew that Trump would go after them.
“I know how vindictive he is. I mean, everybody knows how vindictive he is. So we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now,” Biden said with a laugh. “All it would do is, if he went after them, is run up legal bills. I just know how he operates.”
The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen. Last week, Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor fueled conspiracy theories over the former president’s mental acuity by pleading the Fifth Amendment after he was called to testify behind closed doors.
Biden, however, remained defiant when asked about Trump and other Republicans’ claims that he was incapacitated near the end of his term, allowing his aides to abuse the autopen.
“They’re liars. They know it,” he said. “They’ve done so badly. They’ve lied so consistently about almost everything they’re doing. The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else… I think that’s what this is about.”
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