In an angry social media post, President Donald Trump said that he would terminate every document his predecessor Joe Biden signed with an autopen and that if Biden lied about using one, he would be charged with perjury.
The threats are just the latest examples of Trump going after his perceived political enemies using the power of the federal government to intimidate his political opponents.
“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,” Trump said on Truth Social. “The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”
“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,” Trump said.
Biden’s use of an autopen has become a weapon used by Republicans, who have argued that the staff of the previous administration used the autopen to sign executive orders and legislation when Biden, 82 at the time he left office, was supposedly too senile. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has said, without providing evidence, that Biden’s “cognitive decline” meant that he did not know about the pardons he signed.
In addition, the Trump White House has used a portrait of an autopen instead of one of Biden as part of its presidential “Wall of Fame.”
The president said that “Radical Left Lunatics” took the presidency from Biden and therefore, documents he signed were null and void.
It is not entirely clear how the Trump administration would determine which documents his predecessor signed with an autopen and how it could affect everything from legislation to pardons to executive orders.
The move would also open up questions as to the validity of documents Trump used an autopen to sign. The President is 79 years old and has shown signs of declining health, which he has aggressively denied.
Biden’s former aides have denied that the president’s staff made decisions on his behalf.
Trump’s announcement comes as he made a flurry of posts throughout the Thanksgiving holiday, including calling Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who ran for vice president with Kamala Harris last year, “retarded” and another post comparing his plan for a 50-year mortgage to Franklin Roosevelt creating a 30-year mortgage.
He has also made a posted furiously about the shooting in Washington, DC near the White House, which killed West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom and left another West Virginia guard member, Andrew Wolfe, in critical condition.
In addition, the FBI and the Department of Justice want to interview Democratic members of Congress who posted a video reminding members of the military that they must refuse to obey illegal orders.
Trump called the video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS” and said it was “punishable by death.” In addition, the Pentagon threatened to court martial Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a Navy veteran and one of the Democrats in the video.
But the president has seen mixed success with his attempts to target his political opponents legally.
Earlier this week, a federal judge tossed out high-profile criminal cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
