Tipsheet

Top Biden Aide Finally Reveals Her Role in the Biden Autopen Controversy

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  August 02, 2025 6:55 AM

It’s been buried due to a host of stories, not least being the Russian collusion hoax finally imploding and being revealed as a massive cover-up operation to sweep the fiasco involving Hillary Clinton’s email server under the rug. That’s at least a significant reason why Barack Obama and Clinton hatched this plot to frame Trump. Still, there’s another scandal that’s yet to be fleshed out, and that’s the cabal that hoarded the Biden autopen and whether the former president, who was mentally shot, was competent to sign off on the mountain of pardons and clemency petitions that came across his desk. 

What’s been reported is a scandal—an insane amalgamation of Biden staffers that formed this unholy and potentially unlawful chain of command. The New York Times, of all places, couldn’t bury these damning details. It’s this murkiness that’s led some to believe that the pardons for Anthony Fauci and every member of the House January 6th Select Committee are invalid.  

Now, Neera Tanden, one of the top aides named at the center of this controversy, has spoken with RealClearPolitics’ Philip Wegmann, who revealed her role in this operation. She delivered closed-door testimony before House Oversight, but added she felt congressional Republicans misled the public on what she said: 

PHILIP WEGMANN, REALCLEARPOLITICS: You did serve for four years in the Biden White House, first as staff secretary and then domestic policy adviser. And there's been some debate over your recent testimony before the House Oversight Committee. The Republican majority—they say that you directed autopen signatures without knowing who gave the final approval. The Democratic minority—they call that a lie. So did you receive written sign-off from President Biden each time you used the autopen?

NEERA TANDEN: Yes. Every time I used the autopen to execute executive actions—there's an autopen used for letters to, you know, just from the public. But whenever, every single time I used the autopen to authorize—and I didn’t use it, a career official did—but when I authorized the use of the autopen, I had the president's signature and sometimes detailed notes on each and every time. 

And so, you know, after—when I was testifying, Chairman Comer said that I was very forthcoming. So I found it very disappointing that the committee afterwards, I believe, really misled the public by saying that it wasn’t clear we got authorization. I followed the same protocol every staff secretary, I believe both Republican and Democrat, had used before me, and that was to get a president's signature on—and I got it—twice. I had a very formal process for using it. 

So, I think there’s been a lot of—I'm really glad to clarify this here because there's been a lot of misinformation about the use of the autopen. Every time I authorized its use, President Biden had signed off himself.

Did he, though? Here’s where things go off the rails on that point—we know Biden’s signature is affixed to executive orders, only to learn he had no clue what’s been sent through his office. Speaker Mike Johnson’s damning account of Joe not remembering an executive order freezing the exportation of liquid natural gas. First, Johnson, third in line for the presidency, had to go through a byzantine system to get a meeting with Biden, which shouldn’t have happened. Then, the meeting was loaded with his aides. Biden cleared the room, much to his staffers’ consternation, where it was revealed that he had no idea what Johnson was talking about. Biden insisted he never signed that order. He did.  

This administration has lied about Biden’s mental health pervasively. While it’s noteworthy that we got a bit more sunlight on this operation from Ms. Tanden, we know Joe couldn’t do this job. The investigation must continue. 

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