Biden autopen use makes orders, pardons ‘illegitimate,’ House GOP report says
The House Oversight Committee published a report on Tuesday that requests the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen for executive actions, and accuses his aides of covering up the former president’s cognitive decline. The report is a culmination of a five-month probe into allegations from President Donald Trump and other Republicans that Biden’s aides attempted to hide the former president’s cognitive health and improperly used the autopen to issue executive orders without his direct consent.
The report comes as Trump and his allies have questioned the legality of preemptive pardons Biden gave to Liz Cheney, a frequent critic of Trump, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others. The president has threatened to overturn the pardons, but legal experts have said that Trump does not have the authority to void them.
Report orders review of all autopen executive actions
The GOP-led committee wrote in the 93-page report that there is no evidence that Biden consented to executive actions in several cases, including ones involving presidential pardons. The committee also alleged that Biden’s autopen, a device that replicates signatures and is often used by presidents to sign documents, may have been employed to approve executive orders without his knowledge.
The committee argues that, unless the Biden administration can present evidence that the president signed off on a given action, it should be considered “void,” and that “numerous executive actions — particularly clemency actions taken during the Biden administration — were illegitimate.”
Alongside the report, the committee sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking the DOJ to investigate every executive action taken during the Biden presidency to make sure the former president personally approved them and to determine whether legal action should be taken.
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The first known use of a robotic autopen in the White House was by President Harry Truman, in the 1950s.
“The committee requests that you investigate all executive actions during the Biden administration to ascertain whether they are duly authorized by the President of the United States,” Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to Bondi on Tuesday.
Investigation takes aim at Biden’s doctor
The report also targets Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, accusing him of helping to cover up the president’s cognitive decline. The committee takes issue with O’Connor’s statement in February 2024 that Biden was “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
“… the Committee requests that you investigate the actions of several key individuals from whom the Committee sought testimony,” the letter to Bondi reads. “Specifically, during the Committee’s investigation, two of President Biden’s most senior advisors, Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini, as well as White House Physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor…”
The letter goes on to accuse Bernal, Tomasini and O’Connor of being “deeply involved in the cover-up” of Biden’s mental decline, and asks the DOJ to determine whether their alleged actions “constitute criminal activity.”
O’Connor refused to answer questions from the committee in July, citing the physician-patient privilege and invoking his 5th Amendment rights.
The committee’s probe focuses on testimony from more than a dozen former Biden administration officials. However, there are no public assessments indicating that Biden was mentally incapable of decision-making or of the duties required of the president.
Biden defends autopen use
Biden has repeatedly pushed back against claims that his aides used the autopen for executive actions without his consent during his time in office. He said in an interview with The New York Times that he was aware of the autopen’s use for clemency grants and that he personally made decisions before staff used the autopen.
“The autopen is, you know, is legal. As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump,” Biden told the Times.
“They’re liars. They know it,” he said of Republicans making the claims.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden’s use of the autopen, despite doing so himself at times, even going so far as to hang up a picture of an autopen in place of Biden’s portrait in a new exhibition at the White House.
The report states that, in several instances, it was unclear whether documents signed via autopen went through the proper channels, raising concerns about the legitimacy of these actions.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
