Even members of the Biden administration have raised questions about the pardons that the administration has issued.
Bradley Weinsheimer, senior ethics attorney at the Justice Department, wrote a memorandum questioning pardons issued by Biden after he had granted 2,490 commutations.
Weinsheimer stated, “I don’t know if the President was aware of this background when making clemency decision.”
Axios obtained internal emails that show high-ranking Biden Administration officials questioned and criticised how the President’s team made controversial pardon decisions and permitted the use of autopens to sign many measures late in the term.
…
Ed Siskel, the White House Counsel’s Office led by several senior Justice Department officials, raised concerns about the clemency procedure. He was involved in the clemency decision-making process during the final months of the administration and has not responded to requests for comment.
…
Bradley Weinsheimer, a senior Justice Department ethis lawyer, wrote a harsh memo the next day stating that to call the clemency applicants nonviolent is “untrue or at least misleading.”
Weinsheimer added: “Unfortunately, and despite repeated warnings and requests, we weren’t afforded an opportunity to vet those you were considering and provide input.”
…Weinsheimer claimed that the DOJ marked the man’s sentence as “problematic”, but Biden commuted it anyway. Weinsheimer wrote: “I don’t know if the president knew about these background facts when making his clemency decision.”
Stef Feldman, Biden’s White House staff secretary, asked Biden for more information as well as confirmation that Biden had signed off on pardons.
She wrote in an email: “When will we have [Biden]’s approval for this?”
Axios obtained emails that show senior Biden White House officials resisted requests for the autopen.
Stef Feldman, Biden White House Staff Secretary, said that Biden asked Stef Feldman for confirmation and more information about his intentions regarding the autopen.
Feldman wrote, in an email dated Jan. 7, “When did [Biden] approve this?” Feldman was reportedly writing about the use of an autopen to sign a executive order.
Axios cited her as saying in an email dated Jan. 16, “I will need confirmation from the original chain that [Biden] has signed off on these specific documents once they are ready.” She was writing about autopen for cases involving crack cocaine sentences.
