() High-ranking officials in President Joe Biden’s administration questioned whether he was aware of who he was pardoning as well as whether he had approved the clemency grants during his last days in office.

Emails obtained by from a Trump administration investigation showed several scenarios in which Biden White House officials questioned whether his actions were autonomous.

In one case, the use of autopen on pardons was called into question, according to the documents. 

Biden is said to have approved the use of an autopen for pardons for his family members on the last night of his presidency, according to the documents. Pardons were for his brother James Biden, sister-in-law Sara Biden, sister Valerie Biden, brother-in-law John Owens and brother Francis Biden. 

At 10:21 p.m. that night, Po Rosa, Biden’s senior adviser to the chief of staff, wrote to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and White House deputy chief for policy Bruce Reed a summary of the meeting in which the decision to pardon Biden family members was made.

Rosa had asked for approval to send the email and also wrote, “And Jeff – I will respond from you AFTER this email is sent saying you approve the use of the autopen for all the pardons in this email.”

One minute later, Reed emailed that he approved the use of the autopen, signing as “JZ” (Jeff Zients).

Two minutes after that, an email from Zients’ account conveyed the same message.

But officials in the Biden administration questioned whether Zeints personally approved the autopen one time.

“A significant amount of time passed between President Biden’s alleged approval of pardons or commutations and when that information was communicated to the Staff Secretary for autopen purposes.  However, when President Biden’s family members needed pardons, approval of autopen use was granted in 3 minutes,” the report from the Trump administration stated. 

In another email, Biden’s staff ran into issues communicating how Biden approved commutations.

A White House official wrote on December 20, asking a different official: “Can you write it in first person From (Stef usually requires that) and include that the commutation is to life without release?”

“Steph” ostensibly referred to Biden’s staff secretary, Stephanie Feldman.

Emails also showed that Feldman pushed for confirmation that Biden had approved the names for commutations. 

“Can you please confirm the names in the attached are the names the President approved – the 21 petitioners plus the crack-power disparity cases?” an email stated. 

She was told that he was “going to need email from Rosa [Rosa Po] on original chain confirming P signs off on the specific documents when they are ready.”

“They’re liars. They know it,” Biden told The New York Times in July, when asked about claims he was incapacitated near the end of his presidency and unaware of decisions being made on his behalf. 

“I made every single one of those” decisions about clemency, he added. Biden told the Times he used an autopen to sign the warrants, “Because there were a lot of them.”

“The autopen is, you know, is legal. As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump. But the point is that, you know, we’re talking about a whole lot of people,” he said. 

Trump orders investigation into Biden’s autopen use

Trump had ordered an investigation into actions taken by Biden while in office, citing questions about Biden‘s cognitive state toward the end of his White House term.

Trump directed the counsel to the president, in consultation with Attorney General Pam Bondi, to probe “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”

Days before leaving office, Biden commuted the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. 

The move gave Biden the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued. 

While heavily criticized by Republicans, Biden defended his decision both at the time and months later. 

‘s Kevin Bohn and partner The Hill contributed to this report.