Pardons approved for high-profile names such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark Milley by former President Joe Biden were signed in a last-minute flurry by an autopen, according to a new report.
Pardons analyzed by the New York Times through an extensive review of staff emails and a short interview with Biden himself, include January 6th committee figures, some of Biden's family members, and also encompass other controversial indviduals such as Fauci and Milley.
Fauci became a lightning rod for criticism during the COVID-19 crisis. According to critics, the good doctor perjured himself in congressional testimony regarding statements on gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Some also claim that certain types of research related to COVID were funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under his leadership.
During Biden's interview with the Times, the former president insisted his pre-emptive pardons, particularly for his family, were justified as a means of defense against a vindictive President Trump.
"Everybody knows how vindictive he is. So we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now," Biden said, adding, "I consciously made all those decisions, among others."
Those "others" involved Fauci, who the report now suggests received a final hour pardon signed by autopen and approved not directly by Biden, but in a "reply all" email from his chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients.
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The House Oversight Committee has launched an ongoing investigation into Biden's cognitive decline and his ability to authorize the use of an autopen under such circumstances.
Ex-Biden aide Neera Tanden admitted under oath to the Committee last month that she had controlled the former president’s autopen for nearly two years, but denied any manipulation or abuse, asserting that she was following a system established by previous administrations.
Zients' involvement marks a new twist and, according to the Times, shows that while Biden was allegedly involved in late-night meetings to discuss the pre-emptive pardons, it was his chief of staff who gave the thumbs up.
"The emails imply that (then-White House counsel, Ed) Siskel and Mr. Zients relayed what Mr. Biden had said to the assistants, who then documented it," the newspaper of record writes.
According to the telling of the process and procedures, Biden was involved in a late-night meeting lasting until well after 10 pm on January 19th, his final night as President. On even this, there must be some skepticism as it's been reported that White House staff kept a tight work schedule for their boss as a means to "narrow his work hours as they manage his stamina."
Biden, on the 19th, allegedly "kept his aides until nearly 10 p.m. to talk through such decisions" on the large-scale clemency acts and the high-profile pardons, the Times writes.
The chain of command going from Biden to Zients for approval is remarkably convoluted:
The emails show that an aide to Mr. Siskel sent a draft summary of Mr. Biden’s decisions at that meeting to an assistant to Mr. Zients, copying Mr. Siskel, at 10:03 p.m. The assistant forwarded it to Mr. Reed and Mr. Zients, asking for their approval, and then sent a final version to Ms. Feldman — copying many meeting participants and aides — at 10:28 p.m.
Within three minutes - three minutes! - Zients approved of the list, hitting "reply all" and stating, "I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
The President of the United States has the sole unique power to issue pardons. Still, he had to run it through a series of assistants and their assistants for approval, and they were eventually signed not by his hand, but by an autopen.
Zients, it should be noted, played a pivotal role in spreading misinformation during the pandemic and was a proponent of mandatory vaccination. He sent a message to those people who got their many vaccines and boosters, saying they had “done the right thing,” while simultaneously scolding those who refused as facing the dreaded ‘winter of death.’
“We are intent on not letting (the variant of concern at the time) Omicron disrupt work and school for the vaccinated. You’ve done the right thing, and we will get through this,” Zients said at a press briefing in December 2021.
“For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.”
None of that turned out to be true. All of it was an echoing of Dr. Fauci's heavy-handed approach to the pandemic. Thus, it's not surprising that Zients would have a hand in approving the pardon for Fauci, given that the latter did more harm during the COVID response, and whose decisions cost people’s lives and livelihoods at an incalculable rate.
The New York Times report is a desperate last-ditch effort to convince the American public that Joe Biden was at least involved in the process of approving autopen signatures on the many, many pardons he granted in his final days in the Oval Office. Instead, it's raised so many more questions.
Despite the Times' best efforts, it is clear that approval of the use of the autopen was not granted by Biden himself, but rather, in Fauci's case and many others, had to get the thumbs up from Zients. It was a group of advisers controlling the autopen based on a "draft summary" of what the former President had said, which was then passed through emails to several other individuals before it landed in Zients' inbox to be approved roughly 120 seconds later.
Hearings on this matter, open to the public, should be ramped up immediately.
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