Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) highlighted the next steps that the Department of Justice could take in its investigation of former President Joe Biden’s autopen, including whether it was used to grant myriad pardons.

President Donald Trump has called for a vast investigation into the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline, suggesting that Biden’s autopen was used to conceal his decline and “assert Article II authority.” It comes after Trump said in March that the pardons granted by Biden were “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT,” claiming they were done via autopen and that “Biden did not sign them.”

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Assessing the “legal significance” of Biden’s autopen use, Cruz said that it is reported that Biden personally signed the pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, but that “the rest” of the pardons were signed through autopen. He also noted that the Constitution does not specify that pardons must be in writing, but does state that the ability to grant pardons lies with the president. 

“And so what President Trump alleged is Biden didn’t know about this, didn’t know what he was doing, it was not his decision,” Cruz explained on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz”. “I think it is entirely possible that we will see the Department of Justice prosecute someone who has received one of these autopen pardons. If they prosecute someone, it’s going to be someone for whom there is clear evidence of a federal criminal violation, but also it will be someone who there is evidence that Biden didn’t know about it.”

In terms of finding evidence needed to prove Biden’s lack of knowledge, Cruz said prosecutors could look at “public statements” and interviews to see whether the former president made any remarks regarding pardons.

The senator also suggested that Biden’s autopen use extended to bills he signed into law, citing how the Constitution states in Article I, Section 7 that a president must “sign” a bill before it is considered law. Cruz continued by explaining that a 2005 decision by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel said that a president can sign a bill by directing a “subordinate” to sign through autopen, meaning an argument could be made on whether or not Biden used this method to sign bills.

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“And so I fully expect there to be litigation questioning, looking for a statue where there is not a clear indication that Biden was aware of it, that he made a decision to sign it, but rather that simply you had a White House staffer say ‘ok, this is our policy, let’s sign it,’” Cruz said. “And if that’s the case, if the president did not direct that his signature be affixed to it, I think there’s a real argument that is not a law.” 

The White House is backing a DOJ investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen, which was announced by Trump’s pardon attorney Ed Martin. Trump has deemed Biden’s autopen usage as “disrespectful to our country,” accusing “radical Left lunatics” of using it in Biden’s name.