Category: The Washington Free Beacon
Miyares: Virginia Dems’ ‘Last-Ditch’ Gerrymandering Gambit Is Unconstitutional
According to Miyares, there is no lawful path available for Democrats to redistrict the state ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Sources Allege Illegal Electioneering By Democrat Mayor’s ‘Political Machine’ In New Jersey
‘You’re going to do what the political boss asks you to do,’ one source said of Union City Mayor, state Senator, and Jersey kingmaker Brian Stack.
DOJ pardon attorney doubts validity of Biden autopen pardons as nullification campaign picks up steam
The campaign to throw out the Biden-era pardons for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, and other controversial figures appears to be gaining momentum — and the Office of the Pardon Attorney made clear this week that it’s onboard.
The House Oversight Committee alleged in its damning 100-page report on Tuesday that senior Biden staffers not only worked desperately to conceal the former president’s rapid mental deterioration but usurped his authority with the help of the presidential autopen — a machine used to affix Biden’s signature to a host of controversial executive actions and pardons.
‘In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties.’
“As President Biden was losing command of himself throughout his time in office, his executive actions — especially pardons, of which there are many — cannot all be deemed his own,” said the report. “The authority to grant pardons is not provided to the president’s inner circle. Nor can it be delegated to particular staff when a president’s competency is in question.”
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) concluded that unauthorized executive actions signed by autopen were “null and void,” then asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the validity of all executive actions taken during Biden’s time in office.
Bondi confirmed on Tuesday that a review of the autopen use for pardons during the Biden era is underway.
Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney at the DOJ, suggested in a letter on Monday to Comer that his investigation into the matter has turned up “disturbing findings” such that his office “cannot support the validity and ongoing legal effect of pardons and commutations issued during the Biden administration without further examination.”
In the letter obtained by CNN, Martin suggested that Biden’s admission to the New York Times that he “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people” by itself “seems to raise serious questions of whether those commutations are valid.”
RELATED: Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Martin indicated that doubt over the validity of the commutations is further compounded by the suggestion in former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer’s communications with the Biden White House that the autopenned commutations issued on Jan. 17 in the former president’s name were legally flawed.
The pardon attorney raised other “defects” concerning the pardon process, particularly in the final weeks of the administration.
“My office cannot support the validity of AutoPen pardons for individuals such as Anthony Fauci, Adam Schiff, Mark Milley, and many more without further examination and fact-finding,” wrote Martin. “In my tenure here, I have not seen any evidence supporting the theory that President Biden was personally aware and authorized these AutoPen’d pardons.”
Martin, who alluded to a court ultimately weighing in on the validity of the pardons, told Comer, “If these pardons or commutations are challenged in any way, I recognize serious difficulties in defending them.”
The Oversight Committee similarly foreshadowed a court voiding the pardons in its report, stating that “the Constitution is clear: ‘The President shall … have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.'”
The committee further quoted from a recent essay by constitutional scholar Philip Hamburger, a professor at Columbia Law School, which concluded, “The history confirms that the Constitution’s location of the pardon power is significant. The president must make the decisions, and the courts can hold pardons void if the decisions are made by others.”
While the nullification campaign’s success in the courts could spell disaster for Fauci, Milley, and others, some scholars have cast doubt on the likelihood of that outcome.
When asked whether the pardonees’ convictions and legal vulnerabilities would be fully restored should their pardons be ruled invalid, Jeremy Paul, a professor of law at Northeastern University School of Law, told Blaze News, “In theory, a court invalidation could result in restoration of penalties. I see this as extremely unlikely.”
“If the DOJ attempted to impose punishment upon the affected individuals, the individuals would raise the pardons as a defense in federal court,” continued Paul. “Lower courts would issue rulings. The case could end up in the Supreme Court but that Court would not be required to hear the case.”
Paul expressed doubt about whether the pardons could be invalidated in the first place, stating, “Unless evidence emerges that DOJ officials granted pardons in express opposition to President Biden’s wishes, which seems highly unlikely, I cannot see any basis on which pardons could be deemed invalid.”
Bernadette Meyler, a Stanford Law School professor, suggested to CNN that one way to go about trying to void a pardon would be for Attorney General Bondi to “sue for a declaratory judgment that the pardons were invalid because of some form of impropriety in the signing of them, or in the giving of the pardon.”
Blaze News has reached out to the Office of the Pardon Attorney for comment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Arctic Frost Docs Expose Breadth Of Biden DOJ’s Weaponization
There could be no valid reason for such a widespread probe other than to destroy not just Trump, but anyone within six-degrees of separation.
Hegseth announces more lethal boat strikes to eradicate drug traffickers
The Trump administration performed strikes in international waters in the eastern Pacific on Monday to stop several boats carrying illegal narcotics, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
‘We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.’
He announced on Tuesday the results of “three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels,” claiming that they were operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations.”
In January, President Donald Trump designated international cartels as foreign terrorist organizations for flooding the U.S. with “deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.”
Monday’s strikes killed 14 narco-terrorists, Hegseth said. No U.S. forces were harmed.
“Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike,” he explained. “The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
Hegseth noted that there was one survivor.
“Regarding the survivor, USSOUTHCOM immediately initiated Search and Rescue (SAR) standard protocols; Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue,” he added.
RELATED: ‘We will stop you cold’: Trump announces successful strike against ‘narcoterrorist’ vessel
Pete Hegseth. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday condemned the most recent strikes.
“We do not agree with these attacks, with how they are carried out,” Sheinbaum stated. “We want all international treaties to be complied with.”
RELATED: Trump’s Caribbean ‘drug wars’ are forging a new Monroe Doctrine
Photographer: Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A separate strike was carried out at President Donald Trump’s direction in the Caribbean Sea last week against a vessel reportedly operated by Tren de Aragua.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth stated on Friday. “Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters — and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”
The U.S. has performed more than a dozen strikes since September. At least 57 people have been killed, according to the Associated Press.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A Potent Replacement for Fentanyl Is Emerging in the U.S. Experts Say China Is Behind It.
An even more potent replacement for fentanyl is emerging in the United States, and experts say China is behind its rise.
The post A Potent Replacement for Fentanyl Is Emerging in the U.S. Experts Say China Is Behind It. appeared first on .
University Leaders Say ‘Organized Networks,’ Including Iran, Drove Anti-Israel Campus Unrest
Several leaders of prominent universities on Monday said they believe the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonstrations that broke out on campuses across the United States during the Jewish state’s war against Hamas were not organic, instead telling a panel audience they believe “organized networks,” and even foreign governments, may have driven the unrest.
The post University Leaders Say ‘Organized Networks,’ Including Iran, Drove Anti-Israel Campus Unrest appeared first on .
Some Dare Call It Treason
High treason, a crime so often alleged in our public discourse and so seldom proven in an actual court of…
Court Throws Out Ruling Backing Trump’s Portland National Guard Deployment
National Guard troops deployed to Portland earlier this month
Democratic Rep Melanie Stansbury Claims Trump Starving Americans While Her Party Blocks Reopening The Government
‘I’m disturbed to hear that’
