House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, confirmed Friday that his committee’s review of former President Joe Biden’s pardons so far calls into question their legality.
Biden granted more acts of clemency than any other president in U.S. history, according to Pew Research Center. During just one term, he gave a total of 4,245, which included 4,165 commutations of sentences and 80 pardons.
By comparison, Barack Obama issued 1,927 acts of clemency over two terms, and Donald Trump issued 238 during his first term.
The vast majority of Biden’s pardons came during his final two months in office, according to the Department of Justice. The pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, was the most high-profile in early December, followed by 40 more on Dec. 12, and 14 more by name on Jan. 19, 2025, as well as all members of Congress and staff who served on the Jan. 6 committee, like now-Sen. Adam Schiff, Rep. Bennie Thompson, and former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
“It’s questionable whether or not it’s legal to use an autopen on a legal document, but what’s not questionable is if the President of the United States had no idea what was being signed using the autopen in his name,” Comer told Just the News during a Friday interview. “Then, you know, that’s not legal.”
“The American people saw that Joe Biden was in decline. Robert Hur stated it early on, even before the disastrous debate. When he conducted his interview with Joe Biden, Joe Biden couldn’t even remember the dates that he served as Vice President of the United States,” Comer added.
🚨BREAKING: House Oversight wants to gather evidence that could overturn Biden’s pardons, executive orders
James Comer says his investigation into Joe Biden’s mental decline as president could be used as evidence to overturn some of his pardons or executive orders because his… pic.twitter.com/0Avof9T6zq
— SANTINO (@MichaelSCollura) August 11, 2025
Hur was the special counsel who looked into Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Should all Biden pardons and executive orders signed by autopen be overturned?
The DOJ attorney opted not to prosecute Biden, explaining to members of the House Judiciary Committee in February 2024, “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Comer contended that an “inner circle shielded Joe Biden from everyone, not just the majority of his staff, but the media and the American people.”
“They wouldn’t even allow a cognitive test to be applied to Joe Biden, because they feared what the outcome of that cognitive test would be,” he added.
“I think that’s pretty damning,” the lawmaker said.
Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Just the News in March that there are at least two important issues raised by the Biden White House’s use of the autopen.
“First, the nature of what’s signed. If it was a bill, here’s what the Constitution says: ‘If he approves, he shall sign it.’ So it says, ‘sign it.’ Sign it. So an autopen would raise a real problem if he signed it by autopen, which is not a real signature,” Dershowitz said regarding a bill signed by the president.
Can an autopen revoke Biden’s pardons? Trump says it’s invalid, but the Constitution doesn’t require it.
Visit the link below to watch the full episode:https://t.co/9QJNBxEgYA pic.twitter.com/uF6VyBBrfb— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) March 22, 2025
Regarding the pardons, he pointed out that the Constitution does not require a signature, but “it will still raise the issue: Did he actually pardon? Or did somebody else just write the signature without really getting approval from President Biden? You know, we know there were mental health issues there. So there the issue will be: Did he approve the pardon?”
The New York Times reported last month that the DOJ is now reviewing tens of thousands of Biden White House emails having to do with clemency actions, and the outlet has obtained some of them.
The outlet said that Biden did not personally approve all of the pardons or commutations that he granted, but established categories of people who could receive clemency, and his staff then carried out the decree.
“Mr. Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people, he and aides confirmed. Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence,” according to the Times.
“I made every decision,” Biden told the outlet during a phone interview. The autopen was used for clemency warrants because “we’re talking about a whole lot of people,” he said.
Trump told reporters in June regarding the Biden White House’s use of the autopen, “Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president, and that is wrong, it’s illegal, it’s so bad, and it’s so disrespectful to our country.”
“Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the President, and that is wrong, it’s illegal, it’s so bad, and it’s so disrespectful to our Country.”
– President Trump discusses the autopen. pic.twitter.com/5NOQ0HsbDr— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) June 5, 2025
Between Biden’s clear cognitive issues and lack of specific approval, it would seem these pardons could be overturned.
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