President Donald Trump lashed out at his predecessor on Truth Social, declaring he would nullify every executive order and other document Joe Biden signed using an autopen, warning that any denial from Biden could lead to perjury charges. “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92 percent of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect,” Trump wrote., The Dallas Express reported. “The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.” Trump added, “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”
Politics (Right)
Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, have seized on Biden’s use of the mechanical signature device as evidence of his alleged mental unfitness at age 82 when he left office. Comer has claimed that Biden’s “cognitive decline” left him unaware of pardons he approved. Biden’s ex-aides have rejected suggestions that staff bypassed him on decisions. Critics of the former president argued that documents were signed without Biden’s knowledge, fueling claims that his cognitive ability declined during his time in the White House, Mediaite reported. Biden has rejected those allegations and said he was personally responsible for every pardon issued in the final days of his presidency.
Executive Order Controversy Escalates
Presidents are believed to have used versions of the autopen for more than 200 years, dating back to Thomas Jefferson, who obtained one after it was patented in 1803, according to the Shapell Manuscript Foundation. Gerald Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama are all known to have used the device. Obama became the first president to use an autopen to sign legislation in 2011. In 2005, during the Bush administration, the Justice Department concluded the autopen is legal. “A person may sign a document by directing that his signature be affixed to it by another,” a DOJ memo said. Legal scholars have also noted that the Constitution does not require presidents to personally sign pardons.
Trump told reporters in March that he has used the autopen “only for very unimportant papers.” “You know, we get thousands and thousands of letters, letters of support for young people, from people that aren’t feeling well, etcetera,” Trump said. “But to sign pardons and all of the things that he signed with an autopen is disgraceful.” In a July interview with The New York Times, Biden said Republicans are “liars” for claiming he was unaware of his own White House actions that were signed using the autopen.
