Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is sworn-in before testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 03, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
On Biden’s final day as president, Jan. 19, Biden had a meeting with his aides until nearly 10 p.m. to talk about various preemptive pardons, the Times reports. Emails obtained by the Times show that an aide sent a summary draft of the decisions formalized during that meeting to Zient’s assistant at 10:03 p.m.
The assistant sent the email to Zients and others present in the meeting, requesting approval from Zients and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed at 10:28 p.m., the Times reported. Zients replied all to the email three minutes later, the outlet said.
"I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons," Zients said in the email, according to the Times.
Zients could not be immediately reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
Additionally, the Times report said that Biden did not personally approve each name included in the broad, categorical pardons.
"Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence," the Times reported.
In response, the White House said that the report shed light on Biden’s trustworthiness, and accused the Biden administration of engaging in a cover-up scheme.
TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN PARDONS ARE ‘VOID,’ ALLEGING THEY WERE SIGNED VIA AUTOPEN
President Donald Trump speaks to the media before walking across the South Lawn of the White House to board Marine One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md., and on to Florida, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
"This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts."
A White House official previously told Fox News Digital that Trump uses his hand signature for every legally operational or binding document. Even so, Trump has admitted that he uses an autopen for letters.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
An autopen is a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person’s signature. Unlike a tam or a digitized print of a signature, the autopen has the capability to hold various types of pens like a ballpoint to a permanent marker, according to descriptions of autopen machines available for purchase.
Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Pat Ward contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-chief-staff-gave-reportedly-gave-approval-autopen-pardons-final-day-office