WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House Oversight Committee asserted in a report Tuesday that some executive actions that then-President Joe Biden signed by autopen, including his pardons, were “illegitimate” because he suffered from mental decline while in office and could have been unaware of their contents.
The committee’s Republicans said in the report that they deemed as “void all executive actions signed by the autopen without proper, corresponding, contemporaneous, written approval traceable to the president’s own consent.”
In a letter accompanying the report, Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Biden’s executive actions “to ascertain whether they were duly authorized by the President of the United States.”
Before he left office, Biden issued several pardons for members of his family and key associates who he said could be targets of political retribution by the Trump administration. Those included pre-emptive pardons for his two brothers and sister; Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley; members of Congress involved in the Jan. 6 investigation and their staff, including now Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Washington police officers who testified before that panel. Biden also pardoned his son Hunter Biden of federal gun and tax charges after saying he would not do so.
The report comes as the Justice Department investigates several of President Donald Trump’s opponents, sparking outrage from critics who argue that the prosecutions are blatant retaliation against people whom the president dislikes. Trump has also asked Bondi to look into Biden’s cognitive fitness while in office and his autopen use.
Trump and other Republicans have long tried to cast doubts on the legitimacy of Biden’s use of the autopen, claiming he did not understand what he was authorizing — an allegation that has been routinely disputed by Democrats and the former president’s allies. Trump, too, has used an autopen, as have other presidents, and Comer has used a digital signature for letters and subpoenas in the investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen.
A congressional committee does not have the constitutional authority to declare a presidential action null or void, but the findings could be used by the Department of Justice for an investigation or potentially as part of a legal challenge to certain executive decisions made by Biden, including pardons that he issued.
The 100-page document also accuses the Biden administration and the former president’s allies of shielding his alleged cognitive decline from the American public. Comer asked Bondi to investigate actions from certain Biden aides, including former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who invoked their Fifth Amendment right during testimony.
An attorney for O’Connor said during his deposition to the committee that “revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of any physician.”
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the report.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, but Bondi said in a post to X that “my team has already initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons.”
“@RepJamesComer’s new information is extremely helpful, and his leadership on this issue is invaluable,” she said. “We’ll continue working with @GOPoversight to deliver accountability for the American people.”
A spokesperson for Biden said in a statement that the House Oversight Committee’s “investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency.”
“There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing,” the spokesperson continued. “Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown.”
The former president himself has rejected the committee’s claims, saying in a June statement, “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.”
“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” he said at the time. “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
The former president also told The New York Times in July that he orally granted the pardons before they were signed with the autopen because of the large number of clemencies involved.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee remained highly skeptical of the Republicans’ report, arguing that it was a waste of the committee’s resources.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, of California, called the report a “sham investigation” and argued that people who testified before the committee said “Biden fully executed his duties as President of the United States,” including the authorization of “every executive order, pardon, and use of the autopen.”
“While House Republicans obsess about President Biden’s health, they are ripping away healthcare from 17 million Americans and spiking premiums,” he said in the statement. “It’s clear the only person’s health that Republicans care about is Joe Biden’s.”
Democrats have also questioned Trump’s health amid the release of vague summaries of his medical evaluations. Biden’s age and mental acuity, however, became a major concern within the Democratic Party after his disastrous debate performance against Trump last year ultimately led him to drop out of the 2024 race. Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer just months after leaving the White House.
The House Oversight Committee report comes after the Justice Department has brought cases against several prominent Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who have all pleaded not guilty to various charges against them.
Those indictments were announced in the days and weeks after Trump pressured Bondi in a Truth Social post, claiming that several of his political foes were “guilty as hell” and saying “we can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility.”
In the post, Trump called for action to be taken against Comey and Schiff, and the Justice Department has launched a probe into the senator over allegations of mortgage fraud — which James is also facing in the case against her. Like James, Schiff has denied any wrongdoing.
NBC News and other news outlets later reported that the Truth Social post was intended to be a direct message to Bondi rather than a public post.
In a speech in Boston on Sunday, Biden argued the country is in one of “the worst of moments,” an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s policies and the level of political violence that has gripped the nation.
“Over 50 years of elected public life, this is the worst I’ve seen it,” Biden said.
He argued that “our very democracy is at stake” and urged Americans to “get re-engaged” and “fight like hell.”
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