Meet the Man Who Had Final Control of Biden’s Last Pardons – and It Wasn’t Joe Biden
The summary:
In the final hours of President Joe Biden’s term on January 19,2025,the power to approve his last pardons and commutations was not exercised by Biden himself but by Jeff Zients,Biden’s former COVID-19 response coordinator and chief of staff. A summary of the pardons was sent to Zients, who authorized the use of an autopen to sign the documents at 10:31 p.m. Zients approved the pardon list, which included controversial figures such as Anthony Fauci, shielded from any potential offenses between 2014 and the date of the pardon. Zients, who had no public health background yet led Biden’s COVID strategy, was closely associated with Fauci. Prior to his White House roles, Zients was involved in healthcare companies with past fraud settlements and had financial ties to sectors like Facebook and medical law firms. The new York Times revealed that Zients controlled the autopen and made the final official pardoning decisions as Biden, reportedly cognitively declined, prepared to leave office. Thousands received clemency through this process, highlighting a important delegation of presidential pardon authority to an unelected aide.
Former President Joe Biden didn’t sign his final pardons, nor did he approve the final list.
That power, we now know, was handed to a man no American voted for: Biden’s former COVID czar and chief of staff, Jeff Zients.
On Jan. 19, 2025, Biden’s final full day in office, aides scrambled to finalize a list of last-minute pardons and commutations.
At 10:03 p.m. that evening, a summary of Biden’s supposed “decisions” was circulated among staff.
It eventually landed in the inbox of Zients. Then, at 10:31 p.m., Zients hit “reply all” and wrote, “I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons.”
That was the moment of approval. Not from Biden, but from Zients.
According to The New York Times, Zients made the final call. Rachel Feldman, who managed the autopen, got the list before Zients even gave the go-ahead.
And among those pardoned?
Yes, the same Fauci whose disastrous COVID policies wrecked livelihoods, violated civil liberties, set back education, and divided a nation. The same Fauci Zients worked alongside as Biden’s handpicked pandemic point man.
ABC News reported Zients had no public health experience but ran Biden’s entire COVID strategy.
It’s safe to assume he and Fauci were close.
So close, one might imagine, Zients had an interest in ensuring Fauci never had to answer for any potential wrongdoing.
The pardon of Fauci from *Biden* shielded him “FOR ANY OFFENSES” he “may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon…”
And who approved that pardon? If the Times is to be believed, not Biden.
Jeff Zients, a man a majority of Americans have probably never heard of, seemingly had the autopen under his control.
This is the same Jeff Zients who, according to the Daily Caller, helped lead healthcare firms accused of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, one of which paid $6.88 million to settle DOJ claims. Another paid $150 million.
Zients also sat on Facebook’s board and helped launch a law firm tied to surprise billing and medical malpractice.
He made millions before rubbing elbows with the Obama administration, being tapped for projects in areas where he had no experience, ABC News reported.
He’s made millions of dollars since.
According to the Times, he was the guy waving through last-minute pardons as the cognitively compromised president prepared to be retired to Delaware.
Fauci got his pardon, and apparently, from a friend. Thousands of other people were given clemency, and it appears by someone other than the president.
Days before Biden took office in January 2021, ABC News reported on Biden’s pandemic czar:
“Zients and his wife, who co-founded the nonprofit Urban Alliance and serves as board chair, declined to be interviewed. But in interviews with people close to Zients, friends and colleagues described him as ‘the right guy for the job’ and a relentless executor who’s known for jumping onto sinking ships to try and right them.”
Zients certainly jumped aboard a sinking ship that week.
He was never able to right that ship, but he appeared to have grabbed hold of executive branch pardon powers before the vessel was scuttled by voters last November.
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