The New York Times is facing tense scrutiny over how it framed its interview with former President Joe Biden over his White House's controversial use of the autopen.After dodging Times journalists for an interview throughout his presidency, Biden spoke to the paper's reporters in a ten-minute phone call regarding the growing questions from President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers about the legality of Biden's pardons in the final days of his presidency, which were mostly signed using an autopen.The Times printed the headline, "Biden Says He Made the Clemency Decisions That Were Recorded With Autopen." Biden insisted he "made every decision" on his own and called Trump and other Republican critics "liars." However, the Times reported in the 32nd paragraph of the lengthy story that Biden "did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people," citing the former president and his aides."Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, [Biden] signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence," the Times's report read.BIDEN CHIEF OF STAFF REPORTEDLY GAVE APPROVAL FOR AUTOPEN PARDONS ON FINAL DAY IN OFFICEThe Times famously sparred with the Biden White House over his refusal to grant any interviews with its journalists (Biden sat down with Times columnist David Brooks in May 2021). The paper issued a blistering 2024 statement calling out Biden for his lack of media access while in office, calling it "troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term."DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall suspected Biden's handlers decided to turn to the Times to combat the autopen controversy as the paper is the "major agenda setter for thenews sphere" and that other news outlets in the legacy media would follow its lead."It made sense for Biden to vent to a source that would be sympathetic and spark friendly aggregation by other left-of-center outlets," McCall told Fox News Digital. "It is clear that the establishment media still feel compelled to treat Biden with kid gloves."TRUMP RESPONDS TO BIDEN DISMISSAL OF AUTOPEN PROBE, SAYS HE DIDN'T KNOW 'WHAT WAS GOING ON'Tim Young, aMedia Fellow for Strategic Communications at The Heritage Foundation, believes Biden spoke with the Times because it was a convenient way to fend off criticism."Biden finally sat down with the New York Times because his White House was exposed by the House GOP andthe Oversight Projectfor literally not knowing what clemency or pardon orders were signed.It's pretty clear the pressure was building on his former staff in what could have been an actual Constitutional Crisis -- as the left likes to scream about a lot -- and the team 'rolled him out' to get this over with before repercussionsstarted to build," Young told Fox News Digital.Instead of repeatedly asking the president to sign updated versions of official documents, his staff used an autopen to put Biden's signature on the final version. Bidens chief of staff Jeff Zients was the one who gave final approval for the use of the autopen, at least in the cases of medical adviser Anthony Fauci and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the Times noted deep in its report.NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News Digital the Times report was "embarrassing.""The article on the interview should have been put through the shredder by their editors. It's an offense to basic story structure to wait untilparagraph 32to reveal Biden didn't personally approve certain pardons and subsequent evidence in graphs 36 and 37 tell the reader everything you need to know about their motives," Houck added. "The Timestook Biden at his word, as well as the word of his handlers, something I'm old enough to know is something no journalist should be doing concerning those in power."Political commentator Mark Halperin argued that the Times disregarded basic journalistic standards by failing to include opinions from experts and Republicans on Bidens claims about his use of the autopen."If this shoe were on the other foot, I can't believeThe New York Timeswouldn't have gone and gotten Adam Schiff's reaction. There's no Republican reaction in that story," Halperin said on "The Morning Meeting" podcast. "There's no legal expert quoted in the story."Halperin added that he cannot understand "as a matter of journalism" why The Times would forgo expert and dissenting opinions on Biden's claims about his autopen use.MARK HALPERIN QUESTIONS WHY EXPERT AND REPUBLICAN ANALYSIS ON BIDEN'S AUTOPEN USE 'ABSENT' FROM NYT REPORTWHAT IS AN AUTOPEN? THE SIGNING DEVICE AT THE HEART OF TRUMP'S ATTACKS ON BIDEN PARDONSIndependent journalist Drew Holden published a lengthy thread on X Tuesday scolding the Times for "repeating Bidens claim that he made the calls" and "burying the admissions that" he "really didnt.""The piece ends with the revelation that Bidens then-chief of staff gave the final sign-off," Holden wrote. "Given what the former admin has lied about, why should we trust this reporting of events?"Holden went on to single out other news outlets, including ABC News, CBS News, USA Today, Rolling Stone, HuffPost, Yahoo News and The Daily Beast, for peddling the Times' framing.Young called the Times interview Bidens "last-ditch effort to save face in what could be yet another massive controversy" coming out of his presidency."Just imagine a President who was known to be so unhealthy and mentally gone that he would have to come out and quash statements and evidence that says he had no idea what an autopen was signing on his behalf," Young said.The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPFox News Digitals Andrea Margolis, Diana Stancy and Mark Tamasco contributed to this report.