Biden thought his troubles would leave him once he left the White House. But he’s not even close to being out of the woods.
And the DOJ rocked Joe Biden with a new investigation that could land him in a world of trouble.
Justice Department Launches Inquiry into Biden’s Last-Minute Pardons
A senior official in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department has initiated an investigation into the clemency decisions made by former President Joe Biden during the final days of his administration. The probe, announced on Monday, targets pardons granted to Biden’s family members and commutations for death row inmates, raising questions about the legitimacy of these actions.
Ed Martin, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, outlined the investigation in an internal email obtained by Reuters. The inquiry will examine whether Biden “was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.”
An autopen, a device that reproduces a signature, has been a point of contention for Trump and his allies, who have repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that Biden’s use of such a tool casts doubt on the validity of his decisions or suggests he was unaware of them. It remains unclear whether Biden employed an autopen for the pardons in question.
The investigation focuses on two sets of clemency actions. First, it scrutinizes preemptive pardons Biden issued to five family members—his siblings James Biden, Frank Biden, and Valerie Biden Owens, along with their spouses, John Owens and Sara Biden.
These pardons, announced just before Biden left office on January 20, were intended to shield his family from what he described as politically motivated probes that could pop up in the future.
Additionally, Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, on December 1, following Hunter’s guilty plea to tax violations and convictions on firearms charges. The second focus is Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 federal inmates to life imprisonment.
Martin’s email did not clarify which specific family pardons are under review or who ordered the investigation.
The U.S. Constitution grants presidents expansive authority to issue pardons for federal crimes or commute sentences, a power both Biden and Trump have wielded extensively.
Trump, for example, used his clemency authority on January 20 to grant relief to nearly 1,600 supporters charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Martin, who briefly served as interim U.S. attorney in Washington before his nomination stalled in the Senate, has previously defended the president’s pardon authority as “plenary,” or absolute.
Speaking to reporters on May 13, he remarked, “If you use the autopen for pardon power, I don’t think that that’s necessarily a problem,” though he maintained that Biden’s pardons merited further examination.
The investigation appears to fuel ongoing speculation about Biden’s mental sharpness, particularly in light of his recent cancer diagnosis and a new book detailing Democratic concerns about his health during his presidency.
At 82, Biden was the oldest individual to serve as president, with Trump, the second oldest, now back in office. Biden’s aides have consistently rejected claims of diminished capacity, asserting that he was fully capable of making critical decisions.
No evidence has surfaced to suggest Biden issued the pardons unintentionally. Moreover, a 2005 Justice Department memo supports the legality of a staff member using an autopen for a president’s signature.
As the investigation unfolds, it is poised to reignite debates over the use of executive clemency and its implications for political accountability, with both sides likely to argue the merits of their respective leaders’ decisions.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
