Dozens of govt orders signed by former President Joe Biden have been licensed with an identical autopen signatures — elevating essential questions on whether or not he was totally conscious of what he was signing, critics say.
The conservative Heritage Basis’s Oversight Challenge uncovered the state of affairs, prompting Biden detractors comparable to Republican Missouri Legal professional Basic Andrew Bailey to recommend it might be used to problem the legitimacy of orders that the 82-year-old former president signed, particularly given the issues about his cognition.
“I’m demanding the DOJ examine whether or not President Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected employees to push by means of radical coverage with out his figuring out approval,” Bailey stated.
“If true, these govt orders, pardons, and all different actions are unconstitutional and legally void.”
One of many autopen-signed orders from Biden was an August 2022 directive meant to safeguard abortion entry throughout emergency conditions, Heritage stated.
One other was a December 2024 order to shut authorities places of work Jan. 9, 2025, to honor late President Jimmy Carter.
The Submit performed a random temporary scan itself of about three dozen signatures of govt orders within the Federal Register from President Trump, former President Barack Obama and Biden at varied instances of their presidencies.
All three males’s totally different signatures didn’t seem to vary, though The Submit’s overview was briefer and fewer complete than the Heritage Basis’s.
Autopen signatures are produced by machine as an alternative of being performed by hand. Scores of presidents courting again to a minimum of Harry Truman are believed to have leaned on the trendy autopen.
“We gathered each doc we might discover with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency,” the Oversight Challenge stated final week.
“All used the identical autopen signature aside from the announcement that the previous President was dropping out of the race final 12 months.”
The Oversight Challenge divulged examples of Biden’s signatures on two govt orders that it surmised got here from autopen and contrasted that with a picture of his signature on the letter saying he was pulling out of the 2024 presidential contest.
Biden’s signature on the 2 govt orders primarily regarded an identical, whereas the signature on the letter about withdrawing from the 2024 race had slight variations, together with the shortage of “Jr.” on the finish of his identify. It was merely written as “J.R. Biden.”
Biden had been seen engaged in public signing ceremonies on quite a few events all through his presidency. It stays unclear precisely how a lot he used autopen.
Reps for Biden didn’t reply to Submit requests for remark.
In a jab at Biden’s cognitive state, the Oversight Challenge chided that “whoever managed the autopen managed the presidency.”
Questions on Biden’s psychological acuity dogged his time in workplace. Capping off his presidency at age 82, Biden turned the oldest president in US historical past, although Trump, 78, is on monitor to high him by a number of months.
Biden had a tendancy for public fake pas wherein he’d fumble his phrases and seem to lose his sense of course at instances.
Throughout his travels, Biden began to make use of a shorter flight of stairs to board Air Power One somewhat than the normal 18-foot staircase.
His aides and allies initially denied issues about his psychological state and argued that he was greater than as much as the duty.
However in late June, when he squared off towards Trump on the controversy stage, showing stone-faced, mouth agape with a raspy voice whereas usually dropping his practice of thought, issues about his potential infirmity reached a fever pitch.
A Democratic revolt shortly erupted, and inside simply over three weeks, Biden bowed out of the race.
“There are profound causes to suspect that Biden’s employees and political allies exploited his psychological decline to situation purported presidential orders with out his figuring out approval,” Bailey wrote in a letter to the DOJ watchdog final week.
Bailey cited Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) accusations that Biden privately forgot about govt motion he had taken on pure fuel throughout a dialog the 2 had.
Issues about presidents’ use of autopen have swirled for a while.
Former President George W. Bush had beforehand tasked the Justice Division with assessing the constitutionality of autopen, and the federal government’s legal professionals concluded it was authorized.
Bush determined to not use autopen due to issues that it might be challenged, his administration officers instructed ABC Information.
However his successor, Obama, 63, was additionally identified to have used the autopen for key paperwork comparable to his signing of a 2013 fiscal cliff compromise invoice.