Trump orders investigation into Biden presidency, alleges cognitive decline
US President Donald Trump has ordered an official investigation into the actions of his predecessor Joe Biden, alleging that Biden's aides may have masked his cognitive decline and taken executive actions on his behalf without his knowledge. The move follows an executive order signed on Wednesday directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington to lead the inquiry.
According to The New York Times, the executive order aims to determine whether several of Biden's decisions while in office—such as presidential pardons and policy directives—are legally valid if made without Biden's full awareness or signed using an autopen, a device that mechanically replicates a signature.
Central to Trump's directive is the claim that Biden's use of the autopen—employed by US presidents for decades—could invalidate certain executive documents. The executive order cited the device as a potential means for aides to usurp presidential authority.
'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,' Trump wrote in a memo, quoted by The Guardian. 'The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.'
However, a 2005 opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that a president can direct a subordinate to use the autopen to sign bills, maintaining their legal validity. That opinion, written by Howard C. Nielson Jr.—now a federal judge appointed by Trump—supported the practice as constitutional.
The executive order comes amid an ongoing Republican campaign to challenge the legitimacy of Biden's presidency.
The Guardian reported that the House Oversight Committee, led by Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has called for testimony from five of Biden's top aides, including his former chief of staff, to assess Biden's 'mental and physical faculties.'
Ed Martin, a Department of Justice attorney, also launched a separate investigation into clemencies issued by Biden in his final days in office, including pardons for death row inmates and family members.
The narrative of Biden's cognitive decline has been a GOP talking point for years. Scrutiny intensified following Biden's poor debate performance during the 2024 election campaign, which led to him dropping out of the race.
Democratic leaders have denounced Trump's move as politically driven. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, former President Bill Clinton defended Biden's mental fitness. 'We'd had several long talks. I had never seen him and walked away thinking, 'He can't do this anymore,'' Clinton said.
Biden, 82, is only slightly older than Trump, who turns 79 later this month.
The Department of Justice has not yet commented on the scope or legal merit of the newly ordered investigation.
(With inputs from The New York Times, The Guardian)
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