President Donald Trump has ordered a probe into possible malfeasance in the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, related to the former president’s health.
Trump has directed the White House counsel, in coordination with Attorney General Pamela Bondi and other executive branch officials, to investigate “to the extent permitted by law, whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President,” according to a presidential memorandum Trump signed Wednesday.
The memo questions Biden’s use of an autopen, including for signing policy documents and pardons.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” Trump’s memo said, while providing no specific evidence of any conspiracy.
The validity of documents signed by the president using a mechanical signing device has been well established over multiple administrations. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel advised that the practice was legal at least as far back in 2005. Among the notable legislation for which the use of an autopen was discussed is the 2011 reauthorization of provisions of the anti-terrorism law known as the Patriot Act under President Barack Obama.
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” Biden said in a statement responding to Trump’s directive.
“This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” the former president said.
Separately, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James R. Comer, R-Ky., is demanding interviews with a handful of senior Biden administration officials, including senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, as part of his panel’s own investigation.
“Former President Biden confided in you extensively over the past decade. The Committee seeks to understand your observations of former President Biden’s mental acuity and health as one of his closest advisors,” Comer wrote in a Wednesday letter to Dunn. “If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response.”
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