President Donald Trump ordered on Wednesday an investigation into whether aides improperly used autopen for executive actions in an effort to conceal former President Joe Biden’s health while in office.
In a memo, Trump tasked the Counsel to the President with determining if “certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.” Trump noted the U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and other relevant agency heads would provide consultation as needed.
“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 all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name,” Trump said.
A president is allowed to use a machine to sign off on various documents. However, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project examined records with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency and found many important documents featuring autopen signatures, including his 11th-hour pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, January 6 Committee members, and certain Biden family members.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump went as far as to insist Biden’s pardons using autopen were “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.” He also said members of the “Unselect Committee” should “fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.”
Other presidential signatures on documents, such as the pardon for Hunter Biden and the president’s announcement that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race after a fumbling debate performance against Trump, appear to have been done by hand, the Oversight Project determined.
In a report from NBC News, a former Biden White House official pushed back on the notion that the 46th president did not dictate his executive actions.
“Any accusation that President Biden was not making decisions is false. President Biden made the decisions about the pardons and the executive orders he issued, and the legislation he signed into law,” this unnamed individual said.
But Republicans in Congress remain skeptical, looking into any efforts to cover up Biden’s condition and the potential unauthorized use of autopen. House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has demanded testimony from various former White House aides and, on Wednesday night, announced he would be subpoenaing Biden’s doctor.
The Daily Wire reported Daniel Turner, founder of Power The Future, testified to Congress on Wednesday that White House staff may have used an autopen of Biden’s signature in a “deceit of the American people” in which orders were signed with “no evidence of Joe Biden in first person, in his voice as president talking about them.”
A new book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” as well as the recent disclosure that Biden is fighting an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer and the audio of former special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with him fueled scrutiny.
While at a public event in Delaware last week, former President Biden issued a defiant response when confronted about the controversy over his mental and physical health while in office. “You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” he said, apparently referencing Tapper and Thompson.