Trump orders probe into Biden’s use of autopen during presidency

President Donald Trump has directed the White House Counsel and the Attorney General to investigate whether former President Joe Biden’s aides unconstitutionally exercised presidential authority by using an autopen to sign official documents on his behalf while in office.

In a memorandum issued Wednesday, Trump alleges that Biden suffered from severe cognitive decline during his presidency and that his closest aides concealed his condition from the public while issuing over 1,200 executive actions, appointing 235 federal judges, and commuting the sentences of dozens of federal prisoners—including, the memorandum claims, several “child killers and mass murderers.”

The document cites the Department of Justice’s earlier conclusion that Biden was mentally unfit to stand trial in a separate case, using that assessment to support the new investigation into the legitimacy of Biden-era decisions.

“Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency,” the proclamation states. “A circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name.”

“The vast majority of Biden’s executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen,” Trump said, adding that this was especially prevalent during “the second half of his presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him.”

The memo instructs the White House Counsel, in coordination with the Attorney General, to investigate whether Biden’s staffers entered into coordinated efforts to hide his mental condition from the public, scripted his communications with officials, or falsely framed recordings of his health as manipulated.

It also seeks to determine which executive documents were signed via autopen and who directed the use of Biden’s mechanical signature.

The memorandum stops short of outlining potential measures but suggests that the outcome could have implications for the legal standing of actions taken in Biden’s name. The scope and timeline of the investigation have not yet been announced.