Trump vacates all executive orders signed with an autopen during the Biden administration
However, the president did not clarify what the constitutional or legal mechanism would be to invalidate the documents.
Picture of Joe Biden at the White House/ Saul Loeb.
Donald Trump declared all documents signed with an autopen null and void during the Biden administration. In a message disseminated through his Truth Social account, the president assured that his initiative reaches "all executive orders and anything else that has not been directly signed" by Joe Biden, remarking that a group of "radical left-wing lunatics" snatched the presidency from his predecessor.
From a legal standpoint, an autopen signature is valid if the president authorized its use. On the other hand, if there are documents signed with an autopen without the president's knowledge or instruction, this could suggest a lack of actual presidential authority in those documents.
According to a recently released report by the House Oversight Committee, Biden made extensive use of the autopen to sign executive orders, pardons and other important documents, sometimes without personal or deliberate involvement in what was being signed. Even Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, recounted a personal anecdote from a conversation he had with Biden, concluding that the president had no idea he had signed the pause in the natural gas exports.
"The Committee has found that there was, in fact, a cover-up of the president's cognitive decline and that there is no record demonstrating President Biden himself made all of the executive decisions that were attributed to him," the report titled "The Biden Autopen Presidency" reads.
In that context, Trump stated on Truth Social that he was declaring null and void any document signed with an autopen during the Biden administration.
"Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect. The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States. The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him," he wrote.
"I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" the president stated.
However, he did not clarify what the constitutional or legal mechanism would be to invalidate the documents he mentioned in his post on social media.
Trump, who always questioned whether Biden was actually in charge between 2021 and 2025, unveiled in September a walk of fame featuring photos of all the presidents in the White House. However, when it came to his predecessor, the picture shows a signature with an autopen.
He even ordered a thorough investigation of documents signed during the Biden administration.
What is autopen?
Because of its mechanical nature, this machine leaves clues to differentiate its stroke from one made by hand, for example, the uniform pressure of the pen.
The autopen came to the White House from the hand of President Dwight Eisenhower, although in its early years of use, it performed functions of much lesser importance than it does today. Subsequently, Barack Obama was the first to use it to sign legislation, in his case, an extension of the Patriot Act.
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