OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
9:40 AM – Thursday, October 2, 2025
Former President Joe Biden’s note cards reveal he needed cheat-sheets to recognize Democrats such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Politicians frequently use “palm cards” for reminders or talking points while speaking publicly. Fox News Digital obtained five that were uncovered as part of an investigation of National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) documents related to the autopen probe.
Biden’s team allegedly used the autopen for many presidential actions during his presidency. This is most apparent in the last two months of his single term, when Biden’s signature granted nearly 2,500 people commutations, which makes up more than half of the total of 4,245 acts of clemency throughout his entire term. The NARA could not produce contemporaneous evidence of Biden’s presence at any of the four clemency meetings held in December 2024 and January 2025.
The note cards show that the 82-year-old president needed photographs, names, and biographies for several public figures.
A card for the 2016 Democrat presidential nominee reminded Biden that Clinton was “the Secretary of State in the Obama-Biden administration,” back when Biden was vice president.
Another prominent figure that needed a note card was Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D-Ill.). He also needed reminding of then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein was also in Biden’s cheat sheets, although the former president awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January. This honor had also been given to famed primatologist Jane Goodall, who passed away on Wednesday at 91, and is set to be posthumously awarded to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk by President Donald Trump.
The fifth card to be uncovered reminded Biden of the ten-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, and described him as “one of the greatest actors of the 21st Century,” for the then-president’s reference.
A former Biden staff member told Fox News that listing notable attendees at events is “standard operating procedure for briefing materials.”
“Should the staff not have told the President that Chuck Schumer was attending?” the staffer questioned, referencing the Schumer note card used for an event in January.
Biden has also been photographed over the years holding lists of prepared questions and images of pre-selected journalists for him to call on during press briefings.
When asked about the cheat-sheets, the White House brought up Trump’s off-the-cuff speaking style of taking questions from the press without notes.
“President Trump gives unfettered access to the media and answers every question imaginable, without pre-screening the press questions or collecting reporters’ palm cards ahead of time like his incompetent predecessor,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump is actually running our country, and he doesn’t ever shy away from taking on the fake news to deliver the truth.”
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