“This memorandum proposes general guidelines for which documents should be hand-signed by YOU and which documents may have YOUR signature affixed by use of the Autopen,” the memo reads. “In addition, for documents that we recommend to be signed by Autopen, this memorandum proposes narrow categories of routine, high-volume documents that may be approved by one or more of YOUR senior advisors and executed with the Autopen on YOUR behalf. This memorandum provides a proposed update of prior Autopen guidelines that YOU approved during Transition.”

The document specifically lists “pardon letters” under the category of documents for which Biden should not use the autopen, “Documents for YOUR Consideration, Approval, and Original Hand Signature,” citing precedent set by former President Barack Obama.

A second memo, circulated within the White House Counsel in February 2024, noted that by that point in Biden’s presidency, then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Counsel to the Vice President Erica Songer had become involved in the clemency approval process.

“Before a decision memo is transmitted to the President, the Vice President has previously requested to review the petitioners individually and has raised detailed questions with the WHCO clemency team. This has also introduced significant, unexpected delays. Therefore, planning for the Vice President’s individual review of candidates would likely help expedite the process,” the memo reads. “Given the President’s schedule, it can often take days or weeks for the President to review and approve the clemency package. The Chief of Staff’s Office has been helpful in getting the paper in front of him for his review. He has previously asked the White House Counsel to discuss the candidates with him, although in the last round the Vice President’s approval was sufficient to obtain his approval.”

Over the summer, President Donald Trump ordered that the White House Counsel pursue a separate investigation into Biden’s use of an autopen to sign thousands of clemency actions during his final weeks in office, including preemptive pardons for members of his family and several political allies.

The White House Counsel investigation follows separate lines of investigation opened by the Department of Justice and the House Oversight Committee.

The Trump White House and Biden’s post-presidential office did not return requests for comment on the aforementioned memos.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who is leading House Republicans’ investigation into Biden’s autopen pardons, told the Washington Examiner that these memos “reveal President Biden neither approved — nor may have even been consulted on — thousands of pardons.”

The Oversight Committee has been moving quickly through an investigation into Biden’s inner circle and how it enabled his use of the autopen. The committee has conducted 12 interviews thus far, with two more on the books, as it looks into whether Biden’s inner circle hid his alleged mental decline from the public by exercising presidential power in his name without his full understanding or consent.

The committee has expanded the investigation since the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book, Original Sin. Comer has questioned the former president’s use of the autopen for pardons and executive orders and whether his aides covered up his cognitive decline.

“This is a historic scandal with massive repercussions. As President Biden declined, his aides carried out executive actions without his approval, casting doubt on the legitimacy of thousands of pardons and other executive actions,” Comer said. “The House Oversight Committee is in the final stages of its investigation. There must be accountability for this scandal.”

The government investigations into Biden’s autopen use were launched following the publication of a report from the Oversight Project, a watchdog group formerly part of the Heritage Foundation, that detailed how widespread Biden’s use of the autopen was.

Oversight Project chief counsel Kyle Brosnan told the Washington Examiner that the memos obtained by the Trump White House “confirm our fundamental thesis that President Biden was not running the country during his tenure in the White House.”

BIDEN IGNORED DOJ WARNINGS OVER LEGALLY FLAWED AUTOPEN PARDONS

“The pardon power rests solely with the President, and these new records show that the President was not the person exercising that power,” he continued. “They’re not legal pardons and should be thrown out.”