On Wednesday, President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate former President Joe Biden’s actions during his term. Trump claimed Biden’s staff hid signs of his “cognitive decline” and questioned Biden’s use of an “autopen” device to sign some official orders. The White House said the investigation should look into whether Biden’s team “conspired to hide his mental state” and “unconstitutionally used” presidential power.
Trump’s memo mainly focuses on Biden’s use of the autopen—a machine that copies a person’s signature—which has been used in the White House for many years, including during Trump’s own presidency. Trump has repeatedly accused, without proof, that Biden’s aides used the autopen without Biden knowing and now wants to examine the “validity of the presidential decisions” made this way.
The statement from Trump’s side also questions the legitimacy of Biden’s pardons and sentence reductions, especially the commutations of 37 federal death row inmates, repeating another of Trump’s claims. Trump said, “The real question is who controlled the autopen… Because, in my view, those signatures were illegal.”
Additional Statements from Trump:
In his memo to the attorney general, Trump called this situation “one of the most dangerous and alarming scandals in American history.” He said the public was kept from knowing who really held presidential power while Biden’s signature appeared on thousands of documents that led to major policy changes. Trump repeated his autopen accusations again without any proof. On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump described it as “THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY” after the 2020 election, which he falsely claimed was “RIGGED.”
Biden’s Response to Trump’s Order
Biden responded in a statement saying, “Let me be clear: I made all the decisions during my presidency, including pardons, executive orders, laws, and proclamations. Any claim that I didn’t is ridiculous and false. This is just a distraction created by Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers who want to cut important programs like Medicaid and raise costs for families to give tax breaks to the very rich and big companies.”
What Is an Autopen?
An autopen is a machine that copies a person’s signature on documents. Before the autopen, there was a device called the polygraph, used by Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president. The polygraph could only copy a signature while the person was signing, but the autopen stores a signature and can copy it later. Harry Truman was the first president to use an autopen, and it has been used for decades since then. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice said it’s legal for presidents to use an autopen to sign bills or other official papers if they approve of it.
Trump Spreads Strange Theory Claiming Biden Was Replaced by a Clone
Recently, Trump shared a post on Truth Social promoting a baseless conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was killed in 2020 and replaced by a clone or robot. Trump shared this post without adding any comments. The post came from an account with only about 5,000 followers. Since taking office, Trump has often attacked Biden on Truth Social. In March, Trump also claimed that Biden’s pardons were “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT” because they were signed with an autopen.
