Jessica Tarlov Admits To One Major Biden Mistake

Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov admitted Monday on Fox News’ “The Five” that former President Joe Biden should have gone through the “proper” Department of Justice channels for his last-minute pardons.

Just before leaving office in January, Biden issued a wave of controversial pardons, including for high-profile figures, while commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others. Discussing Biden’s use of the autopen, Fox’s Greg Gutfeld pressed Tarlov on how Democrats could stay in the party if it had “lied” to them about their president. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Unveils New Troll Of Joe Biden’s Autopen In Oval Office)

“Listen, I think there are some people who feel that way genuinely. And some people who usually vote for Democrats went out and voted for Trump in 2024,” Tarlov said. “I think that at the end of the day, though, people, I mean, this is a little bit different with Donald Trump, but at least on the Democratic side, since Obama, it’s not a cult of personality issue. It’s a set of policy preferences. And they like the Democratic policies better than Republican policies. They’ll show up to vote in the midterms and in 2028, based on that.”

“As for, you know, the last-minute pardons for people that are personal. Every president does that. President Trump obviously did that down at the wire, even, for some people that we all know — ” Tarlov added before Fox’s Jesse Watters jumped in.

In December 2024, Biden granted clemency to nearly 1,500 individuals, including several Democratic politicians and public officials convicted on corruption charges. Biden also issued pardons to prominent figures, including his son Hunter Biden, Gen. Mark A. Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

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As questions about his mental fitness resurfaced, it was revealed in July that Biden authorized his staff to use his autopen to sign off on some pardons and clemencies. The former president claimed to The New York Times that he “made every decision,” directing his staff to use the autopen on clemency warrants due to the amount of people to review.

Watters said Biden pardoned “crack dealers” and referenced the nearly 1,500 criminals granted clemency — some of whom were drug traffickers, cartel leaders, and fraudsters.

“I’m separating them and saying there are personal pardons. And then there are these mass commutations. And the problem with a lot of them was that it didn’t go through the right DOJ channels. And even people like Senator Blumenthal, who’s been a big ally of President Biden, called it out and said, ‘Some of these must be a mistake,’” Tarlov said.

“It seems to have come from the fact that there were state convictions versus federal charges. The federal charges were like a cocaine charge, but they had murdered someone and then they let them back out on the street,” Tarlov said. “So I would be for — and maybe we can all agree on this — that you have to  personally go through absolutely all of it, including violent January 6 offenders.”

Questions about Biden’s mental fitness resurfaced with the release of a new book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, which detailed concerns among aides about the former president — including discussions about putting him in a wheelchair post-election due to his stiff gait.

Although Biden insisted he personally approved the clemencies and pardons, an internal memo obtained by Just the News revealed that some of those duties were quietly delegated to others, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

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