'WTF are you guys doing?' DOJ exposes 'black and white evidence' that Biden admin knew autopenned pardons were legally flawed
by Joseph MacKinnon, The Blaze.com, August 20, 2025
The Oversight Project obtained damning internal emails this week from the Justice Department revealing a high-level understanding in the Biden administration that the autopenned commutations issued on Jan. 17 in the former president's name were legally flawed.
In addition to showcasing former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer's legal concerns, the emails provided by U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin's office reveal that the Biden administration apparently misled the nation about the violent criminal nature of the individuals who received commutations.
Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "This represents the first written black and white evidence of fundamental disagreement in the Biden camp as it relates to the pardon strategy writ large."
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"Obviously, this is particularized to the warrants for the commutations of people they never should have let out of jail — but it's the senior-most career lawyer in the DOJ, like [Merrick] Garland's top guy, basically saying, 'WTF are you guys doing? This is illegal,'" said Howell.
Howell suggested further that the potentially unlawful nature of the commutations is cause to keep imprisoned those whose sentences were commuted and who are scheduled to be released.
For those felons who received clemency and are no longer behind bars, the Oversight Project president said, "They should rearrest them."
A Jan. 17, 2025, statement attributed to Biden characterizes the recipients of the commutations as felons "convicted of non-violent drug offenses."
The emails obtained by the Oversight Project reportedly show that Weinsheimer, a 34-year department veteran, took issue with this apparent lie, noting that "in the communications about the commutations, the White House has described those who received commutations as people of non-violent drug offenses. I think you should stop saying that because it is untrue or at least misleading."
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"I do not think it is close to accurate to describe all the clemency recipients as those convicted of non-violent drug offenses," apparently added the former DOJ official.
The 2,490 federal inmates who received the commutations are a motley crew of thugs, including murderers and violent drug dealers.
Among them:
- Terrence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne, whose drug-trafficking offenses led to the death of a police officer;
- Russell McIntosh, a thug who gunned down a woman who threatened to expose his drug enterprise along with her 2-year-old child;
- Adrian Peeler, sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder involving the slaying of an 8-year-old witness and his mother; and
- Plaze Anderson, a former high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples who was personally involved in two murders, an attempted murder and kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.
Weinsheimer added that based on limited review, the DOJ identified 19 inmates under consideration for clemency who were "highly problematic," as that list included "violent offenders, including those who committed acts of violence during the offense of conviction, or who otherwise have a history of violence such that it is misleading to suggest they are non-violent drug offenders," the email showed.
Sixteen of those 19 problematic felons received grants of clemency in Biden's name, and their commutations were characterized as "progress towards justice" by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"I have no idea if the President was aware of these backgrounds when making clemency decisions," Weinsheimer wrote. "The Department was largely excluded from the process, which we otherwise opposed."
The emails revealed that not only were the commutations opposed internally and not as advertised — they were likely unlawful.
Blaze News has reached out to Weinsheimer and the ACLU for comment.
In a Jan. 18 email to his DOJ colleagues at the Pardon Attorney's Office as well as to the White House Counsel's Office, Weinsheimer noted, "I think the language 'offenses described to the Department of Justice' in the warrant is highly problematic and in order to resolve its meaning appropriately, and consistent with the President’s intent, we will need a statement or direction from the President as to how to interpret the language."
🚨Biden’s Own DOJ Threw Red Flag on Autopenned Pardons 🚨
— Oversight Project (@ItsYourGov) August 19, 2025
NEW DOCS FROM @EagleEdMartin show Biden’s own DOJ warned against autopenned clemency awards.@realdonaldtrump should refuse to release inmates that received this illegal clemency and re-arrest those already released. pic.twitter.com/pPCYz8UD3f
Weinsheimer suggested that the "clearest and least problematic way" of curing the apparent legal error was for Biden to explain his meaning and to provide a "list as to each inmate listing the offenses that are covered by the commutation."
