Trump Orders Investigation Into Biden's Use Of Autopen—What To Know

Forbes

a day ago

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate former President Joe Biden's actions during his term, alleging his staff covered up the former president's 'cognitive decline' and questioning his use of an 'autopen' to sign certain orders.
According to the White House, Trump has directed his administration to investigate whether Biden officials 'conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state' and ' unconstitutionally exercise' Presidential authority.
The order particularly wants an investigation into Biden's use of an 'autopen' to sign executive orders—a mechanical device that replicates a person's signature and has been used in the White House for decades, including Trump's time in office.
Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Biden's aides sometimes used the autopen without his knowledge and his latest order seeks to investigate this and 'the validity of the resulting Presidential policy decisions.'
The White House statement also questions the validity of the pardons and commutations issued by Biden—especially his commutation of the sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row—echoing another Trump claim.
In the statement, Trump says: 'The real question – who ran the autopen…Because the things that were signed were signed illegally, in my opinion.'
In his memo to the attorney general, Trump wrote: 'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. 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,' reiterating his autopen claims once again without evidence. In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his unsubstantiated claim about the autopen, saying it was 'THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY' after the 2020 presidential election result, which he falsely claimed was 'RIGGED.'
In a statement shared with multiple outlets on Wednesday night, Biden said: 'Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency…I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false. This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.'