Latest news with #AutoPen
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's Justice Department to investigate Biden pardons, use of autopen
President Donald Trump's Justice Department is examining pardons issued by former President Joe Biden in the final days of his presidency, a move that comes amid an investigation by the House Oversight Committee into the former president's cognitive health and use of autopen, the White House has confirmed. Ed Martin, the Justice Department's pardon attorney, told staff June 2 that he had been directed to investigate clemency and pardons granted by Biden, a Democrat, in the waning days of his presidency to family members and death row inmates, according to Reuters. In an email seen by Reuters, the investigation will focus on whether Biden "was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means." An autopen is a device that mechanically replicates a signature. Presidents, including Trump, have used autopens for decades. There is no law prohibiting the use of autopens for pardons, as previous presidents have done. At a news briefing June 3, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the question was not whether the autopen had been used. "It's whether or not the president of the United States knew it was being used, and if not, who was using it in his name, which is clearly, illegal behavior," she said. There is no evidence to suggest anyone used the autopen without Biden's knowledge. On Jan 20, the last day of his presidency, Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses, saying his family had been 'subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me − the worst kind of partisan politics.' On the campaign trail in 2023, Trump, who was then facing four criminal indictments, vowed to appoint a special prosecutor if he was reelected to 'go after' Biden and his family. The pardons went to Biden's siblings James Biden, Frank Biden and Valerie Biden Owens as well as their spouses, John Owens and Sara Biden. Biden on Dec. 1 pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges. A spokeswoman for Biden refused to comment on the development. The 82-year old Democrat announced last month that he had been diagnosed with an 'aggressive' Stage 4 prostate cancer. Questions around Biden's mental health intensified after his presidential debate with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump in June 2024; he ultimately dropped out of the White House race, paving the way for then-Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee. On May 22, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent letters to Biden's physician and former White House aides demanding they appear for a transcribed interview as part of an investigation into Biden's health and use of the autopen. The investigation's stated purpose is to 'uncover the truth' about Biden's "mental decline and potential unauthorized use of an autopen for sweeping pardons and other executive actions.' Letters seeking testimony have been sent to staffers including Anthony Bernal, former senior adviser to the first lady; former Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden; and former Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini. Martin, the DOJ official, who wrote the letter to staff, took over as director of the Weaponization Working Group, associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney after his nomination for U.S. attorney for Washington D.C. was pulled by Trump in early May. Martin failed to get enough Republican support from Capitol Hill because of his championing of the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn the 2020 election. Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asked former first lady Jill Biden to speak up about her husband's mental health, saying she was 'complicit' in a 'cover-up.' Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Justice Department to investigate Biden family pardons, autopen use
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden Breaks Cover to Torch Trump's ‘Ridiculous' Probe Into His Mental Fitness
Joe Biden has lashed out at President Donald Trump's 'ridiculous and false' claims that he was not making his own decisions while in the White House. The 82-year-old former president issued the rebuke after his successor launched a probe into Biden's alleged 'cognitive decline' while in office and whether his team took advantage of his diminishing mental state to sign off on a number of actions using an autopen. 'Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,' Biden said in a statement distributed to multiple outlets. 'I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false.' He added: 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, who are pushing disastrous legislation that would slash essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families—all to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.' Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi and David Warrington, the White House counsel, to lead the investigation into whether Biden's team 'purposefully shielded' the Democrat's declining mental acuity from the public. The order alleges, without evidence, that it has become 'increasingly apparent' that Biden's aides used the autopen to sign off on executive actions in order to 'conceal Biden's cognitive decline.' The autopen is a mechanical device that replicates a person's signature, allowing presidents to sign off on multiple executive actions. 'This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,' the memo said. Trump has been pushing the theory that Biden didn't personally sign the sweeping pardons issued just before leaving office, including one for his son, Hunter Biden, and preemptive pardons for other family members. His new order also points to Biden's appointment of 235 federal judges and the commutation of sentences for '37 of the 40 most vile and monstrous criminals' on death row as vindication for the investigation. 'Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity while taking radical executive actions in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of presidential power,' the memo said. The Justice Department is conducting its own review of Biden's pardons for his family and death row inmates. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin reportedly directed staff to examine whether Biden was 'competent' at the time or if others were 'taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.' Biden's mental and physical fitness once again came under scrutiny following bombshell claims in Original Sin, a new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson. Biden also recently announced he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Trump—who is just three years younger than Biden—suggested Biden's team manipulated him into pushing for an 'open border' policy as president, as this was in contrast to the Democrat's long-standing views. 'He didn't approve this stuff, because when Joe Biden was with it, he would never have approved it,' Trump told reporters at the Capitol on May 20. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Goes All In on Bonkers MAGA Conspiracy in Late-Night Post
President Donald Trump has doubled down on what appears to be his new favorite conspiracy theory in a late-night, all-caps Truth Social meltdown. Last week, Trump sounded off about 'the Biggest Scandal in American History'—other than the 'rigged' 2020 election—claiming someone had 'usurped' a mentally declining Joe Biden and used an 'autopen' to push through a radical-left agenda while Biden was president. An autopen is a machine used to replicate signatures which has become the center of a MAGA conspiracy theory focused on the pardons Biden granted in his last weeks in office. It's not known whether Biden even used the device to sign pardons. Early on Wednesday, Trump was at it again. 'With the exception of the RIGGED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020,' he began, as he did in his previous post. Then, smashing the 'caps-lock' button, he raged: 'THE AUTOPEN IS THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY!!!' Some figures in the movement believe, as Trump has now suggested twice, that Biden did not call the shots during his presidency and that someone else undercut him and wielded presidential power with the clandestine use of an autopen. Trump's Department of Justice has even launched a probe into Biden's pardons, which came at the end of his term last year. The investigation, headed by Ed Martin, the department's pardon attorney, will also examine whether an autopen was used nefariously. According to an email seen by Reuters, Martin said the probe aims to find out whether Biden 'was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.' Legal experts point out that the U.S. Constitution grants the president broad clemency powers and states that there is no requirement for a handwritten signature on pardons. A 2005 Department of Justice memo supports the use of autopen for signing official documents, stating that the president may direct a subordinate to affix his signature using such a device. Martin himself, in soft-launching the probe last month, even admitted there was no issue. 'If you use the autopen for pardon power, I don't think that that's necessarily a problem,' he said. His new move, however, seems to be an attempt to get around that. Martin's email did not state who instigated the probe, or exactly which of Biden's family members will be investigated. The 82-year-old pardoned his son Hunter in November after he pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges. His pardon drew bipartisan criticism. The then-president also pre-emptively pardoned his brothers James and Frank and his sister Valerie Biden Owens. Their respective spouses were also shielded. In delivering the pardons, Joe Biden cited a desire to shield family members from future politically motivated prosecutions. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told the Daily Beast on Tuesday that the probe was fair, given Biden's apparent condition by the time his term ended. 'The American people deserve to know the extent to which unelected staffers and an autopen acted as a proxy president due to the incompetence and infirmity of the previous president,' he said in a statement. 'President Trump was elected to restore the integrity and transparency of the office, and answering the question of who was actually running this country for four years is well within the president's rights.' The Department of Justice declined to respond. A Biden spokesperson was also contacted for comment.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
DOJ to investigate Biden family pardons, autopen use
In an email seen by Reuters, the investigation will focus on whether Biden "was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means." An autopen is a device that mechanically replicates a signature. Presidents, including Trump, have used autopens for decades. There is no law prohibiting the use of autopens for pardons, as previous presidents have done. On Jan 20, the last day of his presidency, Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses, saying his family had been "subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me -- the worst kind of partisan politics." On the campaign trail in 2023, Trump, who was then facing four criminal indictments, vowed to appoint a special prosecutor if he was re-elected to "go after" President Biden and his family. The pardons went to Biden's siblings James Biden, Frank Biden and Valerie Biden Owens as well as their spouses, John Owens and Sara Biden. Biden on December 1 pardoned his son Hunter Biden who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges. A spokeswoman for Biden refused to comment on the development. The 82-year old Democrat announced last month that he'd been diagnosed with an "aggressive" Stage 4 prostate cancer. Questions around Biden's mental health came under public scrutiny during a June presidential debate with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump, raising questions about the Democrats' well-being, and he ultimately dropped out of the White House race paving the way for then-Vice President Kamala Harris. On May 22, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (Ky. -R) sent letters to Biden's physician and former White House aides demanding they appear for a transcribed interview as part of an investigation into Biden's health and use of autopen. The investigation's stated purpose is to "uncover the truth" about Biden's "mental decline and potential unauthorized use of an autopen for sweeping pardons and other executive actions." Letters seeking testimony have been sent to staffers including former senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal, former Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden and former deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini. Martin, the DOJ official, who wrote the letter to staff took over as the director of the Weaponization Working Group, associate deputy attorney general, and pardon attorney after his nomination for U.S. attorney for Washington D.C. was pulled by Trump in early May. Martin failed to get enough Republican support from Capitol Hill due to his championing of the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021. Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asked former First lady Jill Biden to speak up about her husband's alleged mental decline, saying she was "complicit" in a "cover up." Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump DOJ investigates Biden's pardons: Report
President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is investigating pardons issued by former President Joe Biden over concerns about his competency and the use of an AutoPen to sign the documents, according to a report. Ed Martin, the DOJ's pardon attorney, wrote in an email reviewed by Reuters that the investigation would examine if Biden 'was competent' and if other people were 'taking advantage of him' by using the AutoPen 'or other means.' Reuters reported Martin's investigation will examine the number of preemptive pardons Biden issued to members of the House Select Jan. 6 committee, his family members and their spouses, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and others. The investigation will also examine the clemency approved by Biden that spared 37 federal inmates from the death penalty and instead changed their sentences to life in prison. Martin's email did not specify which Biden family members would be investigated, Reuters reported, but he shared a post online Tuesday signaling his attention to Biden's pardons. For months, Trump has said he believes Biden's last-minute pardons should be void because he signed using the AutoPen, which is a device that automatically signs a document. Trump and his allies have claimed that Biden's use of the AutoPen while in office means he was not in control or was not aware the pardons were being signed. It hasn't been confirmed if Biden used an AutoPen for the pardons, but analysts have noted that many other presidents have used AutoPens in the past. While a president has the authority to pardon individuals, no subsequent president can rescind them, the U.S. Constitution states. During a briefing Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump's belief about voiding the AutoPen pardons. 'The president is making a good point when he discusses the hostage of the AutoPen, who was running the country for the past four years? Perhaps those documents were signed with the AutoPen, something that is, I believe, the Department of Justice is looking into,' Leavitt said. She argued that Biden's competency was a 'huge issue' that sent Trump back to the White House and Americans want answers, hence the investigation. She also noted the investigation is less about Biden's use of the technology to pardon, but his competency on the matter. 'The question is not was the AutoPen used, it's whether or not the President of the United States knew it was being used, and if not, who was using it in his name?' Leavitt questioned. Leavitt highlighted the DOJ's investigation on Tuesday, noting Martin's role, but Reuters noted that his email did not specify who he intended to launch the pardon investigation. The DOJ declined a request for comment from the Deseret News. A spokeswoman for Biden refused to comment on the development, according to USA Today.
