Trump orders investigation into Biden's ‘autopen' pardons

Telegraph

3 days ago

Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into the pardons granted by Joe Biden to family members and death-row inmates which were signed by 'autopen' in the final hours of his presidency.
On Monday, a senior official in the justice department told staff that he was investigating pardons granted by the former president, and whether Mr Biden was 'competent' at the time.
In an email to staff, obtained by Reuters, Ed Martin, a controversial Trump loyalist, said his investigation would look at whether Mr Biden ' was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of autopen or other means.'
An autopen is a device used to add a signature to a document. Unlike the common e-signature, the autopen is a robot-writing instrument that learns how to mimic and repeat the pen strokes of any individual.
They are used routinely by the White House, but Mr Trump and his supporters have spread theories that it was being used by his predecessor as he became less able to conduct the duties of president.
The president's allies in Congress have also launched an investigation into its use.
In the email, Mr Martin indicated that his investigation will be focused on preemptive pardons issued to several members of the Biden family, and clemency that spared 37 federal inmates from the death penalty, allowing them to serve out their sentences in prison.
Mr Biden left office on Jan 20. In the run-up he said he wanted to spare his relatives from politically motivated investigations.
Most controversially, he pardoned his son Hunter, who last year pleaded guilty to tax fraud and was convicted of a firearms offence.
He also pardoned three siblings – James, Frank, and Valerie – as well as their spouses.
A justice department spokesman declined to comment on the investigation other than to say that the email was intended for staff only.
Mr Martin, who was recently appointed to several top roles in the department, including pardon attorney, previously worked as interim US attorney for Washington, DC. He was originally nominated to take on that role permanently but his nomination was withdrawn after it became clear that senators were unlikely to confirm him to the role.
Even some Republicans baulked at his work defending Jan 6 rioters.
A source told The Telegraph that Mr Martin has a broad remit to tackle what Mr Trump believes was the 'politicisation' of the justice department under his predecessor, and to look back at claims of electoral fraud in 2020.
He said the election results looked 'weird' during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host.
'There was the admission that the election was fortified. It was intentionally planned to do that in such a way to get results that looked off,' Martin said.
'Now, does that mean they cheated? We don't have that smoking gun, but we certainly have over and over and over again aspects of things that didn't look right, and we've never had the answers on it.
'So yes, we will get to the bottom of it again.'
US presidents have broad power to issue pardons in the case of federal convictions.
Mr Trump has also used the power. On his first day in power, he granted clemency to most of his 1,600 supporters facing criminal charges over the attack on Congress in 2021.
Mr Martin last month said presidents had power over pardons.
'If you use the autopen for pardon power, I don't think that that's necessarily a problem,' Martin said during a press conference.
But he added that Mr Biden's pardons still demanded scrutiny.
The email is the latest twist in efforts by Republicans to ask questions about Mr Biden's health in office and to explore whether they can use them to overturn his decisions.
Mr Biden, 82, ended his re-election campaign suddenly in July last year after a shambolic debate performance.
Last month, he revealed he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
His former aides have long dismissed allegations that he was ever unable to perform the role of president during his four years in office.