Former President Joe Biden didn’t sign off on his final pardons. He didn’t even approve the list. That power—shockingly—was handed to someone no American voted for: former White House Chief of Staff and COVID czar Jeff Zients.
Zients Signed, Not Biden
On the night of January 19, 2025—Biden’s final day in office—his aides scrambled to finalize a sweeping batch of last-minute pardons and commutations.
At 10:03 p.m., a summary of the “decisions” supposedly approved by Biden was emailed to senior staff.
But it wasn’t Biden who gave the go-ahead.
At 10:31 p.m., Jeff Zients hit “reply all” and wrote: “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
That moment—not any action by Biden himself—was the official authorization for the pardons, according to The New York Times.
Rachel Feldman, who managed the autopen process, had the list before Zients even sent his reply. The decision-making power, it seems, was in Zients’ hands from the start.
Fauci’s Pardon Shielded from Scrutiny
Among those pardoned? Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Yes, the