OPINION:
Former President Joseph R. Biden told The New York Times that he gave his staff the authority to use his autopen to grant clemency because “there were a lot of them” — “a whole lot of people,” he said. He also said he personally “made every decision.”
Emails reviewed by The Times then showed that some of the clemencies and pardons that came by way of the autopen weren’t specifically named by Biden, but rather grouped together in batches based on Biden’s criteria and standards. Other emails reviewed by The Times showed some changes were made to lists approved by Biden — including names being added — but as The Daily Caller noted, “Biden wasn’t notified of each adjustment, the NYT reported.”
Oh me, oh my. What a tangled web is weaved when we lie.
Turns out, then-White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients actually approved the use of the autopen. His words. He wrote in an email, “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
Shocking? Not so much. After all, most in America already suspected the brain-addled Biden wasn’t doing much of his White House work himself — for years. What’s more shocking is that The Times actually reported on this latest autopen revelation.
But that’s to digress.
The focus should be on the clemencies and pardons and preemptive pardons and whether Biden knew what he was doing. And on that matter, many see problems.
“Joe Biden’s autopen pardons are illegitimate and must be revoked,” wrote Illinois Rep. Mary Miller on X.
“Biden’s pardons were horrible on the merits — mass clemency for terrorists and child killers. And now we have confirmation that at least some of these were auto penned without Biden’s knowledge. This is an outrageous scandal,” Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton wrote on X.
So what does Biden say about all this?
“They’re liars,” he told The Times, about President Trump and other Republicans who are raising red flags about Biden’s autopen use.
They’re liars, liars, pants on fire — and “they know it,” Biden went on.
“They know, for certain [they’re liars],” Biden said. “I mean, this is — look, what they, they’ve had a pretty good thing going here. They’ve done so badly. They’ve lied so consistently about almost everything they’re doing. The best thing they can do is try to change the focus and focus on something else. And this is a — I think that’s what this is about. It’s — you know — it’s consistent with Trump’s game plan all along. I mean, if I — I don’t expect you to answer any questions — but if I told you three years ago, we’d have a president doing this, I think you’d look at me in the eye and say, ‘What, are you crazy?’”
Say what?
And that right there is probably the best indicator that Biden had no clue about all the names on the clemency list — his own psycho-babble verbiage.
Ask an innocent person did you do this; did you do that — and the answer is “no.”
Ask Biden — ask a liar — and the answer is a whole lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Democrats know they have an autopen problem, and it’s not a problem solely of perception. As Trump recently said on a podcast, “I think that people took over the autopen. They got things signed that shouldn’t have been signed.”
That’s a crime.
Those guilty should be held responsible.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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