President Trump ordered an investigation Wednesday into whether former President Joe Biden’s administration used an autopen machine to sign key presidential documents like pardons — months after Mr. Trump claimed his predecessor’s pardons were illegitimate.
In a memo signed Wednesday night, Mr. Trump told Attorney General Pam Bondi and the president’s counsel to probe what he claimed was a “conspiracy” to “abuse the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.”
The order cited a litany of executive actions by Biden — including pardons and federal judge appointments — and argued “there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name.”
It then suggested that if Biden’s advisers “secretly used the mechanical signature pen,” it would “have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions.”
Mr. Trump said the investigation should cover whether Biden’s aides “conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president.” It also directed an investigation into which executive actions an autopen was used for, and who directed its use.
In a statement, Biden called the attacks false and “nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans.”
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” Biden said.
Presidents have used an autopen — or a signature-signing machine — to sign certain documents for decades, and then-President George W. Bush’s Justice Department said in 2005 that the president can legally use an autopen to sign bills into law. Mr. Trump said in March he has occasionally used an autopen, but “only for very unimportant papers.”
But Mr. Trump and his allies have suggested Biden’s alleged use of an autopen could be illegitimate. In March, the president claimed a slate of pardons issued to some Trump foes in the final days of his administration were “VOID” and “VACANT.”
CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson said in March that Mr. Trump cannot revoke his predecessor’s pardons, even if an autopen was involved, noting that the president’s constitutional power to pardon people is extremely broad. “This is not a gray area,” she said on “CBS Mornings Plus.”
Early Wednesday, Mr. Trump on Truth Social called the alleged autopen use “THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY,” aside from the 2020 presidential election, which Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed — without evidence — was rigged.
Scrutiny over Biden’s mental acuity while in office has ramped up in recent weeks, amid new reporting about the circumstances of Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race. Earlier Wednesday, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, pushed several members of Biden’s inner circle to answer questions about the president’s “mental and physical faculties” while serving as the chief executive.
Joe Walsh is a senior editor for digital politics at CBS News. Joe previously covered breaking news for Forbes and local news in Boston.
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