The last few days have not been good for former President Joe Biden in terms of his claim that he was the shot caller in his administration.
More information has surfaced regarding Biden’s last-minute commutations of the sentences of nearly 2,500 “non-violent” criminals.
Not only that, but a high-profile former Biden official just dropped a bombshell about Joe’s presence in the White House.
With only days left in office, Biden set a record for grants of clemency while in office, adding another 2,500 or so names to the list.
When Biden made those grants, he stated, "With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history."
He continued, "I am proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”
As noted above, Biden characterized the recipients as non-violent offenders, but we found out this week that was not universally the case.
While administration officials were reviewing the grants of clemency, then-Assistant Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer expressed concerns, writing, "[T]he White House has described those who received commutations as people convicted of non-violent drug offenses. I think you should stop saying that because it is untrue or at least misleading.”
That, however, is not the worst of it.
First, Weinsheimer goes on to say that there were nearly two dozen that he knew of at the time that had a violent criminal history, but he also admitted they had not had time to review all those receiving clemency, so there could be more who fell into this troubling category.
Second, it was actually White House chief of staff Jeff Zients who had given final approval for the grants of clemency, not Biden.
Ian Sams, a former spokesman for the Biden office of White House Counsel, just shockingly admitted that in all his time serving in the administration -- roughly two years -- he had only seen the president in person twice.
According to House Oversight chair James Comer (R-KY), “One of the most shocking things to me,” is that Sams “communicated with Joe Biden two times, he saw Joe Biden, talked to Joe Biden -- two times.”
He continued, “In fact, [former special counsel] Robert Hur spent more time with Joe Biden than Ian Sams.”
Sams was the spokesperson for the White House counsel, so I find this unfathomable that he only personally spoke with Biden on two occasions in two years, especially when you consider the nature of the remarks made by Sams. Comer concluded by asking the very same questions I have now asked hundreds of times, musing, “It raises serious concerns and serious questions about who was calling shots at the White House.”
