President Biden used the presidential pardon power to grant pardons to felons as loathsome as some of those who benefited from the irresponsibility of other recent presidents, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. But his use of an autopen to have pardons apparently signed by him should be considered an additional example of presidential irresponsibility justifying limits on the presidential pardon power in the future. Congress should investigate the degree to which Biden was even aware of whom he was pardoning. Given that his aides have begun to invoke their 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, President Trump should preemptively pardon them with the understanding that should they tell the truth before the appropriate congressional committees they will have immunity from prosecution for whatever they say, while still being liable for prosecution should it be found that they have lied under oath. These investigations may then produce additional reasons to limit or eliminate the presidential pardon power.
What’s worse: A president who knows what he’s doing while making bad decisions, or a president who doesn’t know what he’s doing while making bad decisions?
In the past I’ve written of the abuses of power which presidents and governors, Republican and Democratic alike, have committed when exercising their unilateral pardon power. One need only remember that Bill Clinton pardoned convicted criminals whose relatives made generous political contributions to the Democratic National Committee or Hillary’s 2000 senate campaign, or that Donald Trump pardoned January 6 rioters who actually assaulted police officers, to see that the Constitution should be amended to either limit or eliminate the president’s pardon power.
And following the shameful examples of Clinton and Trump, Biden pardoned—or at least allowed pardons to be issued in his name—his own rogues’ gallery of reprehensible felons, including, according to the Washington Post:
—“A ‘kids for cash’ judge, convicted of taking $2.1 million in bribes to send juvenile offenders to for-profit detention centers with sentences disproportionate to their crimes;
—A “disgraced Ohio county commissioner who took $450,000 in bribes, including Las Vegas trips, prostitutes and an outdoor pizza oven;”
—A “Dixon, Illinois, city comptroller convicted of embezzling $53.7 million from the city;”
—A “fund manager who bilked investors out of more than $665 million dollars;” and
—A woman convicted of federal insurance fraud after collecting benefits paid out following the deaths of two husbands and a lover.
These horrible decisions alone should justify reforming or eliminating the president’s unilateral pardon power.
But Joe Biden’s use of the pardon power also adds a whole new dimension of irresponsibility. Reporting by the New York Times and the Washington Post—both of which endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016 and Biden’s in 2020—can lead one to wonder whether Biden actually knew what he was doing when pardoning his own set of disgusting beneficiaries of his misplaced sense of justice. If he didn’t know what he was doing, then who made the decisions in his name?
The questions stem from the use of an autopen to affix Biden’s signatures to pardons. Now in many instances there’s nothing wrong with using an autopen to affix presidential signatures to routine and ceremonial documents. Indeed, given the sheer volume of paperwork requiring the presidential signature, it would be virtually impossible for any president today to personally sign everything he should.
But a presidential pardon reflects—or should reflect—a deliberate decision by the President of the United States to reduce or void penalties assessed against people either convicted or likely to be convicted of criminal offenses. Given the seriousness of these decisions, doesn’t the public have the right to know who made them, or who will be making them in future administrations? How else can the public hold officials responsible for their (mis)conduct?
In Biden’s case, both the Times and the Post are reporting that Biden issued general guidelines concerning who should be pardoned, while leaving it to aides to determine who fit the guidelines and use his autopen accordingly. If this reporting is accurate, than it was not Biden, but others in his administration who were wielding the actual power the Constitution assigns to the president—and only the president.
The possibility that currently unidentified Biden aides may have been making Biden’s decisions on whom to pardon in no way diminishes his overall responsibility for the exercise of that power. Whether or not Biden actually knew who was doing what he is as responsible for the pardons issued in his name as Clinton and Trump—both of whom presumably knew what they were doing—were for their own. Frequently terrible decisions. Nonetheless, given the seriousness of the decisions made by Biden or by shadowy others acting in his name, but the Congress and the public have both a right and an obligation to find out what was going on in the Biden administration so that they can make better decisions on whether to permit or forbid that conduct in the future.
But Republican efforts in Congress to find out what, if anything, Biden did or knew of what was being done in his name, are being stonewalled by former Biden aides. Both his former White House physician and one of Dr. Jill’s former top aide have refused to answer questions by asserting their 5th Amendment privilege against self incrimination. Others have indicated their intention to do likewise. One can’t help but wonder what they’re hiding.
President Trump can and should facilitate Republican efforts to get to the bottom of this mess by issuing pardons to all of Biden’s former aides who may know something about Biden’s use and possible misuse of the pardon power. These pardons would strip the former aides of any excuse to avoid testifying on 5th Amendment grounds since they would then face no prospect of criminal prosecution as long as they were being truthful. And if Trump is unwilling to pardon Biden’s former associates, the GOP-led investigating committees should nonetheless grant immunity to all witnesses who testify truthfully. The satisfaction some Republicans might otherwise feel in prosecuting Biden’s associates must take back seat to finding the truth of the matter as well as finding ways to either reform or eliminate the pardon power, or at least keep track of who’s actually using it.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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