House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said his panel is in the final stages of an investigation into President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen after a report by Axios revealed internal concerns within the administration about whether thousands of pardons and commutations were properly authorized.
Comer said the new records point to “a historic scandal with massive repercussions” and called for accountability, asserting that aides carried out executive actions without the president’s approval and that their legitimacy is in doubt. The Axios story said senior Department of Justice officials had flagged problems with the clemency process in the White House’s final days.
The report said then-DOJ ethics lawyer Bradley Weinsheimer wrote in a memo that the department was not given a reasonable opportunity to vet or provide input on clemency decisions being considered. The memo, first reported in detail by the New York Post and cited in Axios’ coverage, warned that at least one person who had been flagged as a murderer had been granted clemency and said he had “no idea if the president was aware of these backgrounds when making clemency decisions.”
Axios also reported that a DOJ pardon attorney objected to White House lawyers asking the department not to solicit views of murder victims’ families in cases where that outreach had not already occurred. White House staff secretary Stef Feldman repeatedly sought clarity on the autopen process, according to the report; in one Jan. 16 email she asked for details on drug-related clemency orders approved by then–Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and, after an autopen was used on an executive order, asked, “When did we get [Biden's] approval of this?”
President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, calling the matter “the Biden autopen scandal” and comparing its scope to prior controversies involving him. “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!!!” he wrote.
The Axios account said the controversy centers on thousands of clemency actions taken Jan. 17, shortly before Biden left the White House. The report said Biden approved nearly 2,500 commutations that day, a figure the story linked to an overall total of more than 4,200 clemency orders — which it described as a record number issued by a single president and as the most ever granted in a single day.
A former White House staffer familiar with the pardons process pushed back on Republican criticism, telling Fox News Digital that the administration followed a full process with checks on autopen use and that the pardon power rests with the president, not the Justice Department. The staffer also said Biden had made every clemency decision personally, as the president recently told The New York Times.
The Oversight Committee has sought testimony from administration officials. Jeff Zients is expected to appear before the panel later this month, and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is scheduled for a closed-door interview Friday, according to committee schedules. Comer said the committee’s inquiry is wrapping up but did not specify a timeline for a report or any potential referrals.
Legal questions remain about whether actions taken via autopen are legally binding if the president did not personally sign them, and whether the department’s usual vetting procedures were circumvented. Republicans on the committee say the records revealed by Axios and other outlets warrant further scrutiny and possible accountability measures; Democrats and some former administration officials have emphasized the constitutional pardon power and defended the integrity of the process.
The issue follows broader congressional scrutiny of executive clemency practices and comes as the House Oversight Committee seeks documents and testimony to determine what internal warnings were raised, how they were addressed, and whether policies governing autopen use were followed. The committee’s inquiry adds another front to partisan debates over presidential authority in the closing days of an administration.
House Republicans say the new disclosures justify continued investigation. The White House has not immediately provided new public comment responding to the Axios report beyond prior statements that clemency decisions were made by the president.
The Oversight Committee’s findings, and any subsequent actions, are likely to shape the political debate around clemency procedures and executive authority as lawmakers press for details and as officials including Zients and Jean‑Pierre move toward interviews with the panel.