Biden Autopen Probe Nears Conclusion as Oversight Committee Wrapping Up Calling Witnesses

The House Oversight Committee’s investigation into President Biden’s use of the autopen is climbing higher up the totem pole as the former president’s top aides prepare to be questioned by committee members. The committee chairman, Congressman James Comer, has not ruled out calling Mr. Biden or members of his family to testify themselves. The final two aides scheduled to testify in the autopen probe are a former press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who will appear before the committee on Friday, and a former chief of staff, Jeff Zients, who is coming to Capitol Hill on September 18. No other staffers have so far been called to testify after Mr. Comer spent the summer deposing several top staff members of the Biden White House. Several individuals — including the president’s personal physician and first lady Jill Biden’s so-called work husband, Anthony Bernal — invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during their depositions. A former deputy chief of staff, Annie Tomasini, did the same when she testified before the committee behind closed doors in July. Other aides, including Mr. Biden’s first chief of staff, Ron Klain, and former spokesman, Ian Sams, answered the committee’s questions. Mr. Comer said in a statement over the weekend that there must be “accountability” for the use of the autopen. He has said for months that he is looking for possible legislative solutions to how to ensure the use of the pardon power is not abused. In the wake of a report from Axios about the autopen being used to sign a vast number of pardons, Mr. Comer insisted that it is clearer than ever that Mr. Biden was not in charge of his own White House. “Another day, another revelation showing Joe Biden wasn’t the one calling the shots in the White House,” Mr. Comer wrote on X in response to the Axios article. “This is a historic scandal with massive repercussions. There must be accountability.”The Axios report details how Mr. Biden’s top aides went on a “mad dash” to pardon as many people as possible before power changed hands on January 20. Some of the most controversial pardons signed using the autopen that were issued between Election Day 2024 and Inauguration Day 2025 include those for the president’s brother and sister, General Mark Milley, and for Anthony Fauci. He also commuted the sentences of nearly all death row inmates, a judge convicted of receiving payments for keeping children detained, and a woman who was convicted of embezzling tens of millions of dollars as a local official. A top aide to Mr. Zients reportedly sent an email message approving the autopen pardons for the Biden family on January 19 — less than one day before the 46th president would leave office. “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all the following pardons. Thanks,” Mr. Zients’s staff member, Rosa Po, wrote in the email message obtained by Axios. Officials at the Department of Justice were reportedly left out of the loop, as the clemency process was being run through the White House counsel’s office, which was at the time led by Ed Siskel. A senior justice department ethics attorney, Bradley Weinsheimer, wrote a memo after Mr. Biden issued more than 2,000 commutations — the largest one-day presidential relief for convicts in history. “Unfortunately and despite repeated requests and warnings, we were not afforded a reasonable opportunity to vet and provide input on those you were considering,” Mr. Weinsheimer reportedly wrote. In a rare interview with the New York Times earlier this year, Mr. Biden insisted that he made every single decision with respect to pardons and commutations. “I made every single one of those [clemency] decisions,” he told the Times. “I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so — yes, I made every decision.”“The autopen is, you know, is legal. As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump,” Mr. Biden insisted. “But the point is that, you know, we’re talking about a whole lot of people.” Mr. Comer told the Sun in July that he is open to calling both Mr. Biden and the former first lady to testify before his committee about the use of the autopen in the waning days of the administration. “Every option’s on the table,” Mr. Comer said at the time. “Hopefully we can give everybody an opportunity to answer simple questions and we’ll go from there. We’ll decide as a committee what steps to take next.”

Biden Autopen Probe Nears Conclusion as Oversight Committee Wrapping Up Calling Witnesses

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