Florida’s attorney general called Tuesday for a review of all of President Biden’s clemency grants that were signed by autopen, pushing to see if any of those people can be rearrested on state charges.
Attorney General James Uthmeier’s announcement came a day after authorities in Florida arrested Oscar Fowler, a federal convict on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, whose sentence was cut by more than two-thirds by Mr. Biden.
Mr. Fowler was among some 2,500 pardons Mr. Biden issued on Jan. 17, 2025, just three days before he left office. Republicans say those pardons were signed by autopen, a device that affixes a signature without the president being involved.
“The Biden administration’s use of the autopen is putting Floridians at risk by allowing dangerous felons back on the street, but we won’t put up with it,” Mr. Uthmeier said.
He said his Office of Statewide Prosecution will review every commutation or pardon signed by autopen that affects Florida. If his state can bring its own charges, it will.
“Auto-pen accountability starts today,” he said.
Mr. Fowler was arrested Monday by the St. Petersburg Police Department.
He was charged with two counts of intent to deal drugs and one count of being a felon in possession of a gun. Those state charges match the original federal offenses, Mr. Uthmeier said.
Mr. Fowler was initially arrested on the federal charges in October 2023 after local and federal authorities found cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and a 9mm pistol loaded with a high-capacity magazine containing 29 rounds of ammunition at his residence.
He’d already had convictions for kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and drug charges, which made his possession of a gun illegal.
He pleaded guilty in January 2024 to charges of felon-in-possession and intent to deal drugs.
Federal prosecutors at the time said he had been “breaking the law since the age of 12,” including being charged in 2000 with attempted murder. In 2014, he was arrested in connection with a 2013 murder, though a jury acquitted him in 2017.
In 2024, as they pursued sentencing in the firearms case, prosecutors said they had obtained video of Fowler admitting to the 2013 killing.
“Oscar Fowler is a danger to the community, and his sentence in this case should reflect the need to protect the community from further crimes,” federal prosecutors told the court in Florida, less than a year before Mr. Biden granted the clemency.
Mr. Fowler’s lawyer had argued the amount of drugs was “very small” and he had the gun not to protect his drugs but to protect himself from “credible threats” to his life.
The lawyer said Mr. Fowler had “made an effort to turn over a new leaf,” including reporting a threat someone else had made to kill a lawyer, potentially saving the lawyer’s life.
Even his own lawyer, though, thought Mr. Fowler should get a sentence of five years in prison.
Mr. Biden’s commutation went well below that.
President Trump has questioned the validity of Mr. Biden’s clemency actions, citing his predecessor’s frequent use of the autopen.
