Political analyst Mark Halperin criticized the New York Times on Monday for omitting Republican voices and legal experts from its Sunday article on former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to issue clemency.
Biden told the NYT that he had directed his staff to use the autopen on clemency warrants because he granted them to “a whole lot of people,” but asserted he approved all of the pardons and commutations at the end of his term. Halperin said on “The Morning Meeting” that the NYT violated fundamental journalism tenets and would not have done so had it been a Republican rather than Biden.
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“I thought Joe Biden was pretty good in the interview, but if the shoe were on the other foot, I can’t believe The New York Times wouldn’t have gone and gotten [Democratic California Sen.] Adam Schiff’s reaction,” Halperin said. “There’s no Republican reaction in that story. There’s no legal expert quoted in the story.”
“It’s like, that’s basic Journalism 101. Biden is now taking the position that he could delegate pardons, right? That’s the position they took in the story. Everything else is fine. That’s the one thing. So, what do law professors think about that? What do Republicans think about that? It’s absent from the story,” he added. “I don’t understand that as a matter of journalism. And I guarantee you if it were a Republican, they’d have both those things. They’d have some hysterical law professor saying this is an impeachable offense. And they’d have a Republican saying this needs to be investigated … It’s madness!”
The NYT did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Biden only signed one pardon with his own hand from December to January 2024 to January 2025 — and it was for his son Hunter. He issued 25 pardons and commutations using the autopen during that same period.
“I made every decision,” Biden told the NYT.
The former president also addressed the pardons he issued for his family and prominent figures like Gen. Mark A. Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci. He told the NYT that he addressed each “high-profile pardon” personally with his aides.
“Everybody knows how vindictive he is, so we knew that they’d do what they’re doing now,” Biden told the outlet, saying he wanted to shield his family from significant legal costs fighting potential cases from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
“I consciously made all those decisions,” Biden added.
Emails reviewed by the NYT found that the former president’s staff had a process to ensure that Biden gave verbal approval of the use of the autopen, which his staff secretary Stefanie Feldman operated.
When Biden granted clemency and pardons in large batches toward the end of his term, he did not personally approve each individual but signed off on criteria and standards, according to the NYT, citing reviewed emails.
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