Could Biden’s signatures on official pardons be a fraudulent cover-up? President Trump announced this week that the autopen “signatures” on his final pardons ultimately mean that they are not official – and that he will be legally pursuing those who Biden pardoned.
At a glance:
• President Trump has declared Biden’s pardons “void, vacant, and of no future force or effect” due to alleged autopen use
• Trump claims the 82-year-old Biden “knew nothing” about the pardons issued under his name
• Members of the January 6 Select Committee could face “investigation at the highest level” if pardons are invalidated
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and Liz Cheney were among those granted preemptive pardons by Biden
• Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called for a DOJ investigation into the constitutionality of autopen signatures
Trump Challenges Validity of Biden’s Pardons
President Donald Trump has delivered a bombshell declaration regarding the legitimacy of pardons issued in the final days of Joe Biden’s administration, announcing that Biden’s signatures on critical pardons were created using an autopen rather than being personally signed by the former president.
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The accusations center around pardons issued to members of the January 6 Select Committee, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and General Mark Milley, among others. These controversial figures were granted preemptive pardons by Biden before leaving office, potentially shielding them from future prosecution.
Questions of Cognitive Capacity and Awareness
At the heart of Trump’s challenge is the claim that Biden lacked the mental capacity to understand what he was approving.
“He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime,” Trump declared, suggesting that Biden staffers orchestrated the pardons without the president’s knowledge or consent.
Reports from former Biden aides have fueled concerns about who was actually making decisions in the White House during Biden’s tenure. One former aide made the stunning admission: “I feared no one as much as I feared that [staffer]. To me, [the staffer] basically was the President. No one ever questioned [the staffer]. Period.”
The Oversight Project, a project of the Heritage Foundation, has been examining Biden’s signatures on official documents and found troubling consistency across multiple signatures.
Mike Howell of the Oversight Project stated, “The prolific use of autopen by the Biden White House was an instrument to hide the truth from the American people as to who was running the government.”
Trump’s declaration could have serious consequences for those who thought they were protected by Biden’s pardons. The President specifically warned that January 6 Committee members “should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has added legitimacy to Trump’s concerns by calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the constitutionality of using an autopen for presidential pardons. The legal question centers on whether a mechanical signature satisfies the constitutional requirements for exercising presidential pardon power.
If Trump gets his way here, those who Biden “pardoned” could soon find themselves in a lot of legal trouble.
