Trump DOJ investigating Biden-era pardons amid concerns over state of mind

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is reviewing the list of people that were granted pardons by former President Joe Biden, amid new concerns about his use of an AutoPen to automatically sign documents, as well as concerns about his state of mind in his final months in office.

Fox News was told Tuesday that Justice Department Pardon Attorney Ed Martin is reviewing a list of Biden-era pardons granted by the president during his final weeks in office.

It is unclear what individual pardons are being reviewed by Martin’s office, though Reuters reported this week that the office is planning to look at the preemptive pardons that Biden granted to his son, Hunter Biden, as well as more than 35 death row inmates whose sentences were changed to life in prison during Biden’s final days in office. 

DOJ officials did not respond to Fox News’s requests for comments on the email or the exact nature of the review

Former President Joe Biden used his final weeks as commander-in-chief to grant clemency and pardon more than 1,500 individuals, in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.

But critics took umbrage at the long list of names, noting that it included persons convicted of defrauding U.S. taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars. Many took aim at his use of preemptive pardons to family members and others in Biden’s inner circle.

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.