Perjury, drugs, and counterfeiting — Trump pardons 5 former NFL players



President Donald Trump has granted pardons to former NFL players whose crimes will certainly raise some eyebrows.

The announcement was made by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson, who was pardoned herself by Trump in 2020 after serving 22 years in prison.

'Mercy changes lives.'

"Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players. ... As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation," Johnson wrote on X.

The five ex-NFL players are Billy Cannon, Travis Henry, Joe Klecko, Jamal Lewis, and Nate Newton. Cannon is the only deceased member of the group.

Henry, a former Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans running back, made it to the Pro Bowl in 2002. However, in 2008 as a member of the Denver Broncos, Henry was arrested after authorities in Montana caught him with 6 pounds of marijuana and more than 6 pounds of cocaine. He trafficked cocaine between Colorado and Montana, the DOJ claimed. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison but was released after two.

Lewis, a former Baltimore Raven, won a Super Bowl with the team in 2001, along with a bevy of awards throughout his career. He also has the second-most rushing yards in a single game in NFL history.

In 2004, Lewis reached a plea agreement with prosecutors after being charged with conspiring to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute and using a cell phone in the commission of the first count. He served four months in prison and went on to play in the NFL until 2009.

RELATED: EXPOSED: Did the NFL have a secret plot to SABOTAGE the TPUSA halftime show?

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

A federal grand jury indicted 67 people in 1992, including former New York Jets defensive tackle Klecko. Klecko was allegedly connected to an insurance fraud scheme; UPI reported that an insurance company in New Jersey conspired with body shops and claimants to submit phony claims for paint damage caused by emissions from an oil refinery.

Klecko pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 and served three months in prison.

Newton, a former Dallas Cowboys player between 1986 and 1998, is a three-time Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowl player. The offensive guard was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2002 after police found 175 pounds of marijuana in his car. He admitted he planned to drive the load to Houston, Texas, from a nearby county.

RELATED: It's all 'globalism': Jack Posobiec tells Glenn Beck the NFL was furious over TPUSA's Super Bowl halftime show

Bettman/Getty Images

Cannon played for the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders in the 1960s, was a Heisman Trophy winner, and was a three-time AFL champion. He pleaded guilty to counterfeiting money in the 1980s, according to the New York Post. He spent more than two years in prison. He died in 2018 at the age of 80.

Johnson called it a "blessed day" when the pardons were granted, adding that she was grateful to the president for his "continued commitment to second chances."

"Mercy changes lives," she added.

In November, Trump pardoned former MLB player Darryl Strawberry for 30-year-old tax fraud charges. In 1995, Strawberry pleaded guilty to a single count of tax evasion over a failure to report nearly $500,000 in income he made off of baseball cards and autograph signings between 1986 and 1990.

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Departing New Jersey governor pardons killer son of Democratic fundraiser hours before conviction



In his final hours as New Jersey governor, Democrat Phil Murphy issued 97 pardons and 51 commutations.

Among Murphy's more controversial recipients of clemency was Harris Jacobs, the killer son of Democratic fundraiser and Atlantic City powerbroker Joe Jacobs. Jacobs is a friend of Murphy who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the failed 2024 Senate campaign of the then-governor's wife, Tammy Murphy.

'When politics pervades justice, the rule of law becomes subordinate to influence and power.'

Orlando Fraga — a Cuban who moved to the United States in 1980 in pursuit of a better life — was fatally struck by a vehicle when walking along Atlantic Avenue on Sept. 4, 2022.

Harris Jacobs knew he had struck Fraga. Jacobs reportedly can be seen in surveillance footage pulling into a nearby Dunkin' Donuts, then repeatedly inspecting his bloody victim before fleeing the scene.

Jacobs' defense attorney Lou Barbone suggested to WCAU-TV that the recognition that Fraga "had expired" was "simply too much of an emotional trigger" for his client to stick around and face the music.

RELATED: 'This is First Amendment activity': Democrats give church-storming mobs their stamp of approval

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Prosecutors noted during Harris' first trial that between the time of the hit-and-run and Harris' arrest, the killer had called his father 10 times after the crash but not the police.

Although jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision last May in Harris' first trial, they reached a verdict on Tuesday, finding the 28-year-old guilty of second-degree knowingly leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle accident, reported WCAU. The conviction would have carried a sentence of five to 10 years.

Barbone revealed that his client knew in advance that the jury's efforts to mete out justice were in vain.

"My client received a call from the governor's counsel at 7:30 a.m.," Barbone told BreakingAC. "The pardon was issued but not in our possession. We know it was issued before the verdict."

Barbone indicated he is filing a motion to vacate the conviction on the basis that the pardon was granted prior to the jury's verdict.

Murphy claimed that "each pardon and commutation represents a story of accountability, growth, and redemption."

"By offering second chances to individuals who have demonstrated rehabilitation and a commitment to their communities, we have strengthened not only individual lives, but our entire state," added Murphy.

A spokesperson for the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office told WCAU, "Unfortunately, when politics pervades justice, the rule of law becomes subordinate to influence and power. ... A conviction can be rendered meaningless not by the verdict of a jury, but by the intervention of political power and connections."

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Trump Says He Isn’t Considering A Pardon For Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

President Donald Trump confirmed Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs reached out to him seeking a pardon, but said Wednesday that he’s not considering his request. Trump said Diddy had “asked me for a pardon,” adding that the request was made “through a letter,” according to The New York Times (NYT). The outlet asked Trump when the letter […]

Jelly Roll receives second chance, thanks to Tennessee governor's Christmas season tradition



Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) maintains an annual Christmas season tradition of granting clemency to select individuals, highlighting stories of redemption and second chances.

This year, Lee extended pardons to 33 individuals. The most notable beneficiary was country music star Jelly Roll, who was previously convicted of robbery and drug felonies.

'His story is remarkable, and it's a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for.'

"I am genuinely inspired by the broadness of the folks that are getting pardons today," Lee said, the Tennessean reported.

The governor called his pardon power "a very serious responsibility."

While federal pardons allow convicted individuals to avoid prison time, Tennessee pardons serve as a statement of forgiveness after time has been served. The AP reported that they offer a path to restoring certain civil rights, including voting rights. The governor may specify the terms of the pardon.

Jelly Roll, whose given name is Jason DeFord, stated during a January 2024 congressional hearing that his right to vote had been restricted due to his criminal past.

RELATED: Country music star and former drug dealer Jelly Roll gives powerful testimony before Congress about dangers of fentanyl

Jelly Roll. Photo by Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images

As part of the clemency process, applications undergo a months-long review, the Associated Press reported. The state parole board reportedly issued a unanimous, non-binding recommendation for Jelly Roll in April.

The music artist visited the governor's mansion on Thursday to receive the news.

"His story is remarkable, and it's a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for," Lee stated.

RELATED: 'I thought I'd die young': Jelly Roll breaks down in tears as Joe Rogan delivers huge surprise in emotional clip

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Jelly Roll stated that the clemency would make it easier for him to travel internationally for his concert tours and Christian missionary work.

Earlier this month, while appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast, Jelly Roll received word that he had been invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

"I didn't even dream of it," Jelly Roll told Rogan. "God will make things bigger than your dreams. Somebody out there right now is dreaming of something, and it's too small. Dream bigger, baby."

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'Won't be the last': Felon freed by Biden autopen arrested after Omaha shooting



Over 2,490 autopenned commutations were granted on Jan. 17 in then-President Joe Biden's name — more in one day than any previous president granted over their entire presidency.

A statement attributed to Biden suggested that the clemency action was "an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars."

'Crime must be met with consequences, not weakness.'

Among the supposedly "deserving individuals" who received commutations — which an associate deputy attorney general indicated at the time were legally flawed — was Khyre Holbert, a thug who pled guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including trafficking crack cocaine and knowingly carrying and using a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. He previously served three years in prison for a separate felony firearm conviction.

Holbert, whom the Biden White House spared from serving the remaining 13 years of his 20-year sentence, was arrested last month in connection with a shooting in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, that sent a 28-year-old man to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"Holbert should never have been released back into the community. I'm at complete loss as to why this administration continues to honor the directions of the Biden-era autopen," Oversight Project president Mike Howell told Blaze News. "He should have been re-arrested, as we've been calling for many months. Holbert won't be the last."

According to the Omaha Police Department, a gunshot rang out in the early hours of Oct. 4 as an officer was investigating a disturbance involving a firearm in the area of 13th and Howard streets. After additional units were called to the scene, police located a man suffering from a gunshot wound as well as a discarded firearm.

RELATED: Bondi has bad news for Fauci, Milley, and other Biden pardonees: DOJ is actively reviewing Biden-era autopen use

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Police caught Holbert and charged him with first-degree assault, using a firearm to commit a felony, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He has since also been slapped with a federal firearms charge.

An unsealed complaint alleges that forensic technicians successfully identified Holbert's fingerprints on the gun and that the gun appears to be the same weapon used in numerous other violent gun offenses in the state, WOWT-TV reported.

The Omaha Police Officers Association commended officers for rushing to the scene "before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else" and condemned Holbert's early release by the Biden White House.

"Releasing dangerous criminals before proven rehabilitative efforts, puts our communities, our families, our kids, and our police officers at risk. We're grateful our members got there fast, before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else," the OPOA added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed OPOA's frustration, noting in a statement, "The Biden administration's last-minute commutations were not only a cruel blow to victims' families, but also a fundamental failure to hold criminals accountable."

"This tragic case proves that crime must be met with consequences, not weakness," Bondi continued. "Our prosecutors in Nebraska are doing the job that the prior administration refused to do."

The Biden White House reportedly commuted Holbert's sentence despite objections from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nebraska, which cited Holbert's gang affiliation and multiple criminal convictions.

The Oversight Project obtained damning internal emails from the Justice Department in August revealing that former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer had taken issue with the Biden White House's apparent efforts to mislead the nation about the violent criminal nature of the individuals who received commutations.

While the Jan. 17 statement attributed to Biden characterizes the recipients of the commutations as felons "convicted of non-violent drug offenses," many of those who received commutations along with Holbert were violent thugs, including

  • Russell McIntosh, who gunned down a woman along with her 2-year-old child after the woman threatened to expose his drug enterprise;
  • Adrian Peeler, sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder involving the slaying of an 8-year-old witness and his mother; and
  • Plaze Anderson, a former high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples who was personally involved in two murders, an attempted murder and kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a Blaze News contributor.

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'No MAGA left behind': Trump pardons Giuliani, Powell, others involved in 2020 alternate electors case



President Donald Trump has announced "full, complete, and unconditional" pardons for those allegedly involved in the effort to arrange an alternate slate of electors and submit certificates of ascertainment indicating that Trump won the 2020 Electoral College vote in critical states.

According to the presidential proclamation shared by U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin early Monday morning in response to an older post stating, "No MAGA left behind," pardons were also granted to individuals who attempted "to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election."

'President Trump is putting an end to the Biden regime's communist tactics once and for all.'

Martin signaled that Trump, unlike his predecessor, was directly involved in the pardon process, noting that the signatures on the pardons were "wet (not autopen)," meaning they were hand-signed.

Among the dozens of names identified in the non-exhaustive list of those pardoned is Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, and John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump's 2020 campaign. Trump did not pardon himself.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Blaze News, "These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy."

"Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden regime's communist tactics once and for all," added Leavitt.

RELATED: Inside the Dem-hatched scheme to destroy attorneys who supported Trump

Valerie Plesch/Washington Post/Getty Images

The proclamation notes at the outset that these pardons serve to end "a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation."

— (@)

A White House official told Blaze News that "Americans in seven states acted to preserve alternate slates of electors as a result of major issues with the 2020 election. They took action, while exercising their First Amendment rights, that the system was designed to let them do: preserve the right of the American people to seek redress including through our courts and federal and state legislative processes."

The official likened the actions allegedly taken by some of those pardoned to those taken by "the famous 1960 Hawaiian alternate electors for President Kennedy, who were never prosecuted or even questioned."

"The alternate electors were involved in a purely federal constitutional proceeding before Congress. Under long-established law, states have no jurisdiction with respect to any alleged wrongdoing associated with a federal proceeding," added the official.

'I wish the pardon would terminate the lawfare totally.'

Although providing a clean slate and shield where federal charges are concerned, the pardons are largely symbolic, as they are unlikely to help those facing state-level prosecutions — such as those defendants facing charges in Nevada, those embroiled in the so-called "fake electors" case in Arizona's Maricopa County, and those who recently lost their appeal to move their Georgia case to federal court.

Jeff Clark, the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Trump Office of Management and Budget, who is among those pardoned, expressed gratitude to the president but stressed that his legal battle is far from over.

"I wish the pardon would terminate the lawfare totally — and under SCOTUS's venerable Ex Parte Garland decision, it certainly should. But zooming in on the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel, we expect the leader of that office not to drop his case," wrote Clark.

"I wish I could be declaring this legal nonsense over for good — a pardon should totally and abruptly kill off these federal bar and Georgia-federal attacks on me and many others."

Martin noted in a Monday-morning X post that when he started in his current role, "POTUS encouraged us to look at two categories of Americans especially: First, those who needed and deserved clemency, especially long serving inmates who are ready to be released. Second, he wanted us to look at those people who had been targeted by the Biden administration. The targeted is a huge group of Americans."

The pardon attorney indicated that "one group that jumped up right away" was the "alternate electors and their affiliates who were targeted by Jack Smith and others."

The pardons come just days after Trump approved a pardon for three-time World Series champion Darryl Strawberry and months after the president pardoned approximately 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.

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DOJ pardon attorney doubts validity of Biden autopen pardons as nullification campaign picks up steam



The campaign to throw out the Biden-era pardons for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, and other controversial figures appears to be gaining momentum — and the Office of the Pardon Attorney made clear this week that it's onboard.

The House Oversight Committee alleged in its damning 100-page report on Tuesday that senior Biden staffers not only worked desperately to conceal the former president's rapid mental deterioration but usurped his authority with the help of the presidential autopen — a machine used to affix Biden's signature to a host of controversial executive actions and pardons.

'In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties.'

"As President Biden was losing command of himself throughout his time in office, his executive actions — especially pardons, of which there are many — cannot all be deemed his own," said the report. "The authority to grant pardons is not provided to the president’s inner circle. Nor can it be delegated to particular staff when a president’s competency is in question."

Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) concluded that unauthorized executive actions signed by autopen were "null and void," then asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the validity of all executive actions taken during Biden's time in office.

Bondi confirmed on Tuesday that a review of the autopen use for pardons during the Biden era is underway.

Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney at the DOJ, suggested in a letter on Monday to Comer that his investigation into the matter has turned up "disturbing findings" such that his office "cannot support the validity and ongoing legal effect of pardons and commutations issued during the Biden administration without further examination."

In the letter obtained by CNN, Martin suggested that Biden's admission to the New York Times that he "did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people" by itself "seems to raise serious questions of whether those commutations are valid."

RELATED: Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Martin indicated that doubt over the validity of the commutations is further compounded by the suggestion in former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer's communications with the Biden White House that the autopenned commutations issued on Jan. 17 in the former president's name were legally flawed.

The pardon attorney raised other "defects" concerning the pardon process, particularly in the final weeks of the administration.

"My office cannot support the validity of AutoPen pardons for individuals such as Anthony Fauci, Adam Schiff, Mark Milley, and many more without further examination and fact-finding," wrote Martin. "In my tenure here, I have not seen any evidence supporting the theory that President Biden was personally aware and authorized these AutoPen'd pardons."

Martin, who alluded to a court ultimately weighing in on the validity of the pardons, told Comer, "If these pardons or commutations are challenged in any way, I recognize serious difficulties in defending them."

The Oversight Committee similarly foreshadowed a court voiding the pardons in its report, stating that "the Constitution is clear: 'The President shall ... have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.'"

The committee further quoted from a recent essay by constitutional scholar Philip Hamburger, a professor at Columbia Law School, which concluded, "The history confirms that the Constitution’s location of the pardon power is significant. The president must make the decisions, and the courts can hold pardons void if the decisions are made by others."

While the nullification campaign's success in the courts could spell disaster for Fauci, Milley, and others, some scholars have cast doubt on the likelihood of that outcome.

When asked whether the pardonees' convictions and legal vulnerabilities would be fully restored should their pardons be ruled invalid, Jeremy Paul, a professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law, told Blaze News, "In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties. I see this as extremely unlikely."

"If the DOJ attempted to impose punishment upon the affected individuals, the individuals would raise the pardons as a defense in federal court," continued Paul. "Lower courts would issue rulings. The case could end up in the Supreme Court but that Court would not be required to hear the case."

Paul expressed doubt about whether the pardons could be invalidated in the first place, stating, "Unless evidence emerges that DOJ officials granted pardons in express opposition to President Biden's wishes, which seems highly unlikely, I cannot see any basis on which pardons could be deemed invalid."

Bernadette Meyler, a Stanford Law School professor, suggested to CNN that one way to go about trying to void a pardon would be for Attorney General Bondi to "sue for a declaratory judgment that the pardons were invalid because of some form of impropriety in the signing of them, or in the giving of the pardon."

Blaze News has reached out to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for comment.

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Oversight Committee Urges DOJ To Probe And ‘Void’ Pardons Signed By Biden’s Autopen

The committee notes Biden was, “losing command of himself,” and his executive actions, especially the pardons, cannot be deemed his own.

National Archives has bad news for some of the crooks who received clemency in Biden's name



President Donald Trump declared on March 17 that "the 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen."

"In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!" the president continued. "The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime."

Liberal fact-checkers rushed to suggest the president was wrong about the Biden pardons — however, a great deal of evidence has come out vindicating Trump's understanding that the pardons were likely unlawful.

'I made the decisions during my presidency.'

Two weeks after the Oversight Project obtained internal emails from the Justice Department indicating that there was a high-level understanding in the Biden administration that many of the commutations autopenned in the former president's name were legally flawed, Just the News received internal Biden White House memos that could similarly spell trouble for recipients.

Mike Howell — president of the Oversight Project, which first exposed the Biden White House's prolific use of the autopen earlier this year — told Blaze News, "We've been right all along, and it's nice to be right again. It's past time to start actually charging these people."

The memos, gathered as part of a Trump White House Counsel probe into Biden's use of autopen signatures for official business, shed additional light on the Biden White House's shifting approach to pardons and the former president's involvement in the process.

RELATED: 'WTF are you guys doing?' DOJ exposes 'black and white evidence' that Biden admin knew autopenned pardons were legally flawed

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

A February 2021 draft memo from then-White House staff secretary Jessica Hertz — a final version of which was reportedly not referenced in the National Archives — detailed guidelines for Biden's autopen use "based on precedent from the Obama-Biden administration."

The memo, which was sent early in the Democratic administration to Biden insiders, including then-chief of staff Ron Klain, noted that congressional bills, veto messages, and pardon letters were among the documents the president should personally approve and hand-sign.

It is clear from the liberal use of autopen signatures on pardons and other consequential presidential actions by the Biden White House that this guidance did not stick.

While Biden told news outlets in June, "I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations," a draft memo circulated by Biden's White House Counsel in February 2024 suggested otherwise.

The 2024 draft memo detailed the "general pattern" followed by members of the White House Counsel's Office clemency team when securing approval for clemency, revealing that Biden "previously asked the White House Counsel to discuss the [clemency] candidates with him, although in the last round the vice president’s approval was sufficient to obtain his approval."

RELATED: Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The Trump White House reportedly concluded that this particular memo indicates that Biden was "outsourcing" clemency decisions to Kamala Harris in 2024.

The Trump WHCO's probe also found very little evidence to suggest Biden actually attended four critical clemency meetings in December 2024 and January 2025 and "turned up no record of the president’s briefing books addressing pardons, commutations, or clemency at that time," Just the News reported.

The National Archives apparently has no contemporaneous staff notes confirming Biden was present at the Dec. 5, Dec. 11, Jan. 11, and Jan. 19 meetings where he was later said to have supposedly given "verbal approval" for commutations for federal death row inmates, members of the Biden family, and other unsavory characters.

The Trump White House also found a troubling indication in its review that Biden may have not been sufficiently involved in the controversial commutation of sentences for 37 federal inmates sitting on death row.

In a Dec. 10, 2024, draft memo, then-White House counsel Edward Siskel recommended that Biden grant clemency for the felons; however, the National Archives reportedly proved unable to find a final version of the memo bearing proof of Biden's approval for the commutations that were ultimately granted in his name.

Just the News indicated that the office of Joe and Jill Biden did not respond to a request for comment.

"In June 2022, the Biden White House began deploying the autopen to sign clemency warrants and executive orders in July of 2022. Autopen use skyrocketed from there," former Idaho Solicitor General Theodore Wold, a board member of the Oversight Project, told the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in June. "We found that of the 51 clemency warrants issued during the Biden presidency, over half — 32 in total — were signed with an autopen."

Wold later emphasized that the "president actually has to make the decision — that cannot be delegated to a staffer or an adviser," but there was no indication "that anyone other than staff were making these decisions."

— (@)

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold



American politics still has the power to shock. Tuesday delivered one of those moments — the Oversight Project agreed with Joe Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice. That’s rarer than a blue lobster.

The issue is autopen pardons. Since March, we’ve exposed how Biden’s White House used an autopen — not the president himself — to issue thousands of pardons and commutations. The New York Times first dismissed the story as a “conspiracy theory,” only to later admit that Biden himself confirmed the scheme. Biden said he set “broad categories,” while staff picked names.

Trump has the chance to prove that the rule of law — not the autopen — governs the United States.

That delegation is flatly illegal. Only the president has the constitutional authority to grant clemency. Now we have proof that even inside Biden’s Justice Department, top officials knew it was illegal.

The smoking gun?

Ed Martin, head of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group and the Trump administration’s pardon attorney, unearthed an email from Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer dated January 18, 2025 — the morning after Biden’s clemency spree.

On January 17, Biden’s White House blasted out commutations for roughly 2,500 federal inmates. Biden bragged in a statement, “I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history. I am proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”

But he hadn’t personally reviewed a single case.

Weinsheimer warned his colleagues that the warrants didn’t describe specific offenses, which made them legally problematic. “Because no offenses have been described to the Department from the President, the commutations do not take effect,” he wrote, as one possible outcome of the problematic pardons. Without essential fixes, Weinsheimer advised, the pardons and commutations might not hold up. He also urged the White House to stop calling the inmates “non-violent drug offenders” because “it is untrue or at least misleading.”

He was right. These weren’t harmless marijuana cases. Biden’s “non-violent” list included cop-killers, witness-killers, crack kingpins who ordered shootings, and a man who torched an informant with a butane flame. One even shot a sleeping child. These are the criminals Biden’s autopen set loose.

RELATED: Biden tried defending autopen use to the New York Times. He made it a whole lot worse.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump’s move

President Trump already declared these autopen pardons “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.” He has cited them repeatedly, launched investigations, and signed an executive order. The Oversight Project has now handed him the easiest test case imaginable: Biden’s own DOJ admitted the warrants were defective.

Trump should order Attorney General Pam Bondi to rearrest the released criminals and restore the full sentences of those still in custody. The legal and moral case is open-and-shut.

Why it matters

The America First coalition came to Washington on two promises: mass deportations and real accountability. Ed Martin’s work has cracked open the door to deliver on the second. The longer the administration waits, the more it risks looking like Biden’s lawlessness will stand.

Biden abused the pardon power with a pen he didn’t even hold. Trump now has the chance to prove that the rule of law — not the autopen — governs the United States.