Home Oversight in ‘ultimate levels’ of Biden autopen probe, James Comer reveals

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Home Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., stated his panel is wrapping up its investigation into President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen after a brand new report revealed considerations raised within the former administration itself.

"New data reveal President Biden’s personal administration raised considerations about autopen use to grant 1000's of pardons. This can be a historic scandal with huge repercussions," Comer instructed Fox Information Digital in response to the Axios report.

"As President Biden declined, his aides carried out government actions with out his approval, casting doubt on the legitimacy of 1000's of pardons and different government actions."

Comer added, "The Home Oversight Committee is within the ultimate levels of its investigation . There should be accountability for this scandal."

BIDEN’S AUTO-PEN PARDONS DISTURBED DOJ BRASS, DOCS SHOW, RAISING QUESTIONS WHETHER THEY ARE LEGALLY BINDING

Home Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer is main a probe into autopen use by President Joe Biden. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)

President Donald Trump weighed in on Fact Social: "THE BIDEN AUTOPEN SCANDAL IS BIG, NOT AS BIG AS THE RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, OR THE RIGGED 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, BUT, NEVERTHELESS, ONE OF THE BIGGEST, EVER!!!"

A former Biden White Home staffer conversant in the pardons course of pushed again.

"Republicans like to speak about Biden every time information hits that they don’t wish to discuss. Right this moment, they wish to discuss Biden as a result of Trump is accountable for the newest jobs report, which is the worst August jobs achieve since 2020," the staffer instructed Fox Information Digital.

"What these emails present is a full course of to help that decision-making and checks on using the autopen."

Axios reported over the weekend that senior Division of Justice (DOJ) officers flagged points with Biden’s clemency course of in his ultimate days in workplace.

Biden accepted almost 2,500 commutations on Jan. 17, simply days earlier than leaving the White Home, setting a file for many clemency orders ever granted by a U.S. president — greater than 4,200 in whole — and essentially the most ever in a single day.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside first woman Melania Trump as they depart the White Home on April 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)

The subsequent day, DOJ ethics lawyer Bradley Weinsheimer reportedly wrote in a memo: "Sadly and regardless of repeated requests and warnings, we weren't afforded an affordable alternative to vet and supply enter on these you have been contemplating."

Noting that at the least one assassin granted clemency had been flagged by DOJ, he added: "I don't know if the president was conscious of those backgrounds when making clemency selections." The New York Post first reported particulars of the memo.

In the meantime, Axios reported {that a} DOJ pardon lawyer took situation with White Home attorneys asking the division to not solicit views of homicide victims' households of a number of loss of life row inmates if it had not already completed so — together with folks whose sentences Biden commuted as effectively.

The Axios report additional revealed that Biden White Home employees secretary Stef Feldman repeatedly sought readability on the autopen course of. In a single Jan. 16 e-mail, she requested for particulars on drug-related clemency orders accepted by then-Chief of Workers Jeff Zients. After being requested to make use of autopen on an government order, Feldman reportedly wrote: "When did we get [Biden's] approval of this?"

'SHOULD BE PROSECUTED': HOUSE REPUBLICANS ZERO IN ON BIDEN AUTOPEN PARDONS AFTER BOMBSHELL REPORT

Then-President Joe Biden talks to reporters on the South Garden of the White Home on Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Picture/Mark Schiefelbein)

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The previous Biden staffer insisted the method was sound.

"The pardon energy rests with the president — not the Division of Justice," the staffer stated. "Whereas the DOJ is free to boost its personal considerations about pardons, and did earlier than Trump fired the entire profession employees who did so, it's finally the President’s determination."

Biden himself instructed The New York Times just lately that he made each clemency determination on his personal.

Zients is predicted to testify earlier than the Oversight Committee later this month. Former White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre can also be scheduled for a closed-door interview Friday.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital main protection of the Home of Representatives. Earlier digital bylines seen at Day by day Mail and CBS Information.