President Joe Biden’s pardons are scandalous, but perhaps not for the reasons you think.
In a New York Times article published Sunday, Biden defended the thousands of pardons and commutations he issued at the end of his tenure, many, if not all, of which were signed with an autopen, a device that replicates someone’s signature. Biden’s interview with the Times comes amid much criticism of Biden’s pardons from President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress.
Here’s what we know: In his last days in office, Biden issued the most questionable clemencies of any president in U.S. history. He pardoned family, friends, and allies. He commuted sentences en masse, including for some of the most vicious criminals in America. After vowing repeatedly he would not do so, he pardoned his son, Hunter—and did so preemptively, not for specific acts but for any and all crimes Hunter may have committed since 2014.
Overall, according to the Justice Department, Biden granted 4,245 pardons and clemencies in his four-year term, by far the most of any president—Trump granted only 238 in his first four years. And that doesn’t even count the thousands of pardons Biden gave to people who’d committed certain marijuana crimes.
