WASHINGTON — Senior Justice Department officials were left befuddled by the sweeping pardons then-President Biden approved for thousands of convicts days before leaving office earlier this year — and rebuked the White House for falsely labeling the clemency recipients “nonviolent” offenders, according to emails reviewed by The Post.

Associate Deputy Attorney General Brad Weinsheimer struggled to make sense of the commutations granted nearly to 2,500 federal convicts Jan. 17 and requested “a list as to each inmate listing the offenses that are covered by the commutation.”

The emails were obtained by the government watchdog the Oversight Project and first reviewed by The Post.

“I think the language ‘offenses described to the Department of Justice’ in the warrant is highly problematic and in order to resolve its meaning appropriately, and consistent with the President’s intent, we will need a statement or direction from the President as to how to interpret the language,” Weinsheimer wrote in a Jan. 18 email to members of the White House Counsel’s Office and the DOJ Pardon Attorney’s Office.

The veteran DOJ lawyer added that a statement directly from Biden would help clarify “the meaning of the warrant language.

“One other important note,” the DOJ official continued, “in communication about the commutations, the 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.”

Weinsheimer explained at least 19 “highly problematic” commutations had already been identified by his office — 16 of whom “received grants of clemency from the President.

“Even in that number, we identified violent offenders, including those who committed acts of violence during the offense of conviction, or who otherwise have a history of violence such that it is misleading to suggest that they are nonviolent drug offenders,” he said.

“There are likely many more problematic cases in the ones we have not yet been able to review. Unfortunately and despite repeated requests and warnings, we were not afforded a reasonable opportunity to vet and provide input on those you were considering,” Weinsheimer said.

“And as you know, we only were provided the actual warrants and information on those for whom the President was granting clemency minutes before you posted the list online.”

One of the grantees, Russell McIntosh, had “a history of violent crimes, including having shot to death a woman who had threatened to expose his drug business to the authorities and her two-year-old child,” the DOJ official noted.

Another, Adrian Peeler, was serving a 35-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder involving the killing of an 8-year-old witness and his mother.

“The family of those victims has been very involved in opposing Mr. Peeler’s motion for compassionate release and other relief over the years and will be extremely upset to learn of this development,” Weinsheimer wrote.

The Oversight Project obtained copies of the emails from the office of DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin to try to delve deeper into the issue of possible abuses of the presidential auto-pen by the Biden White House, including on the clemency orders.

“The way this was done would not hold up legal scrutiny,” Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told The Post.

“You aren’t allowed to put curse words in an email as a lawyer, but this is pretty much the equivalent of a bunch of curse words” at the Biden White House, he said of Weinsheimer’s letter.

Oversight Project attorney Samuel Dewey, referring to the crimes of the offenders, said, “You have to approve the category on the face of the warrant so that it’s public.”

So “everybody knows what category you used or it’s just an invalid delegation to your staff. And so there was a lot of controversy from that.”

“Biden gave his staff some category — and quite literally, DOJ can’t even figure out what the category is,” Dewey went on. “So how is that a permissible use of the autopen?”

“Even under the broadest view of the autopen, even accepting the defense that Biden could somehow set categories, DOJ can’t even figure this out — so how the heck did Biden know what he was doing? He didn’t.”

At the time, Biden said in a statement he was “commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses who are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”

A spokeswoman for Biden did not respond to a request for comment.

Weinsheimer was not alone in privately expressing frustration over the Biden administration’s approach to clemency in the 46th president’s waning White House days. 

The day before the associate deputy AG’s missive, then-DOJ Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer privately complained to the White House about the lack of detail surrounding Biden’s mass clemency push. 

“I know I sound like a broken record, but our incoming is nonstop, and folks are becoming increasingly upset and concerned, including congressional staff, US Courts/Probation, and stakeholder orgs. I have no explanation to offer them as to why a list is not available. Would greatly appreciate any update,” she wrote. 

Later that day, Elysa Wan of the DOJ’s Criminal Division asked both Oyer and White House associate counsel DeAnna Evans to clarify a key point in the clemency announcement.

“The attached warrant states, ‘I hereby commute to a term of [X] months’ imprisonment the sentence of imprisonment, for the offenses described to the Department of Justice, imposed upon XX.’ We do not know how to interpret ‘offenses described to the Department of Justice.’ Could you please clarify?” she wrote in the email. 

The revelations come amid multiple probes into the former president’s use of autopen for key decisions, including pardons.

The DOJ launched an inquiry in June into the autopen controversy, examining whether Biden aides “abused the power of Presidential signatures.” 

The Trump administration has also confirmed that Ed Martin, head of an anti-weaponization working group at the DOJ, is looking into whether Biden “was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.”

In Congress, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee has revived its probe into Biden’s mental acuity and expanded it to encompass his use of autopen. The powerful investigative panel has hauled close to a dozen ex-aides to the 46th president for testimony so far.

Last month, Biden gave an interview to the New York Times, in which he claimed that “I made every decision” on pardons despite not approving all of them individually. 

“I made every single one of those. And — including the categories, when we set this up to begin with,” he told the outlet. “I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much.”

In December 2024, Biden commuted roughly 1,500 sentences and issued pardons to 39 offenders. He also issued a pardon to his troubled son Hunter and granted pre-emptive clemency to five other members of his family moments before departing the White House.

President Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of documents Biden signed via autopen, including clemency documents, suggesting his predecessor did not know what he was doing.