Concerns regarding the purported abuse of the presidential autopen during President Joe Biden’s administration have been voiced by Republican lawmakers and former Trump administration officials in a growing controversy.
The authenticity and legality of a number of executive actions made in the last few months of Biden’s presidency are currently being contested in relation to the autopen, a tool typically used for signing non-urgent documents.
Claims of Abuse of Autopens
In a recent interview, former President Donald Trump artificial intelligence advisor David Sacks asserted that Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) had a major say in the Biden White House’s use of the autopen.
Warren’s “pathological hatred of the crypto community,” according to Sacks, is what drove her to restrict the autopen’s use, especially when it came to executive orders that impacted cryptocurrency regulations.
Sacks claimed that Elizabeth Warren was in charge of the autopen during that administration and that her participation was intended to “drive this community offshore.”
Executive Orders and Contentious Pardons
The controversy grew after it was revealed that the autopen was used to sign some of President Biden’s last acts while in office, such as pardoning members of the January 6 select committee. The legitimacy of these pardons has been contested by former President Trump, who claims that Biden may not have been directly aware of or involved in their execution.
“To be honest, Joe Biden’s actions regarding Russia and other issues put us in a terrible situation. During a speech at the Department of Justice, Trump said, “How would he know that autopen is a big deal when he didn’t know about it and he generally signed it with autopen?”
Trump also said, “Number one—it’s disrespectful to the office,” in reference to the use of the autopen. The second is that, given who is obtaining his signature, it might not even be legitimate. He didn’t even know what he was doing.
Investigations Are In Progress
The conservative Heritage Foundation-affiliated Oversight Project has begun a thorough examination of documents signed by President Biden. Their initial results indicate that, aside from the announcement of Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, the autopen has been used consistently.
The group emphasized the possible ramifications of their findings by claiming on social media that “WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY.”
Several former Biden staffers and confidants have also received requests for testimony from House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY). Comer threatened to issue subpoenas if these people did not comply within a week.
The head of the Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group and incoming pardon attorney Ed Martin also confirmed that an investigation into the autopen’s use for Biden’s contentious last-minute pardons is still ongoing.
According to Martin, the investigation has been ongoing for a while, during which time a whistleblower came forward with grave accusations and multiple people hired legal representation.
Consequences and Upcoming Actions
The current state of affairs calls into question the legitimacy and openness of executive actions made under President Biden. The results of future investigations may have important implications for the legitimacy of specific executive orders and pardons, as well as for the people who carried them out.
