{"id":15095,"date":"2025-09-28T17:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=15095"},"modified":"2025-09-28T17:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T17:24:23","slug":"jean-pierre-grilled-by-house-committee-over-biden-autopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=15095","title":{"rendered":"Jean-Pierre Grilled By House Committee Over Biden Autopen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared Friday before the House Oversight Committee for a high-profile interview on whether senior aides sought to conceal signs of mental decline in then-President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

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Jean-Pierre, Biden\u2019s chief spokesperson from May 2022 through the end of his term, is the most prominent figure to testify so far in the inquiry.<\/p>\n

Now a Democrat-turned-Independent, she did not speak to reporters before entering the closed-door, transcribed interview, which began at 10 a.m. and was expected to continue into the afternoon.<\/p>\n

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is probing whether White House officials sought to conceal Biden\u2019s mental and physical decline, and whether any executive actions were signed by autopen without the then-president\u2019s full awareness.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe intentionally wanted Jean-Pierre to be one of the last people we bring in,\u201d Comer told reporters on his way to the deposition. He added that investigators were especially interested in the contents of her new book, \u201cIndependent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a serious investigation about the legality of the use of the autopen, the excessive use of the autopen, and whether or not Joe Biden had any idea who was using the autopen and what the autopen was used to sign, with respect to legal documents,\u201d Comer said.<\/p>\n

Committee investigators are focusing in particular on the clemency orders issued during Biden\u2019s presidency \u2014 including roughly 2,500 near the end of his term that were executed with an autopen.<\/p>\n

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Biden told The New York Times he personally made every clemency decision, while his allies have dismissed the GOP-led investigation as a partisan effort, Fox News\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Jean-Pierre was among the aides who defended Biden after his disastrous June 2024 debate against then-candidate Donald Trump, telling reporters the following month that he was \u201cas sharp as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

But unlike other former Biden officials who have testified before the committee \u2014 many of whom remain loyal to him \u2014 Jean-Pierre had a public falling out with Biden\u2019s circle earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Internal White House\u00a0emails reveal<\/a>concern among aides and Justice Department officials about former Biden\u2019s sweeping clemency grants in his final days in office, including uncertainty over whether Biden personally reviewed or approved the specific documents authorizing thousands of pardons and commutations.<\/p>\n

The messages, obtained by the\u00a0New York Post<\/a>, show that Biden orally approved a plan on Jan. 11, 2025, to commute sentences for inmates serving time on crack cocaine charges. But three warrant documents listing roughly 2,500 recipients were not signed \u2014 by autopen \u2014 until the morning of Jan. 17, just three days before he left office.<\/p>\n

On the evening of Jan. 16, then-White House Staff Secretary Stef Feldman told colleagues she needed confirmation that Biden had consented before she would authorize his autopen signature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to need email \u2026 confirming P[resident] signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,\u201d Feldman wrote at 9:16 p.m.<\/p>\n

Deputy White House counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded Feldman\u2019s message to Michael Posada, chief of staff to the counsel\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael, thoughts on how to handle this? He doesn\u2019t review the warrants,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Posada responded: \u201cWe will just need something \u2026 making clear that the documents accurately reflect his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mass clemency was announced hours later, at 4:59 a.m. on Jan. 17.<\/p>\n