The Autopen Model 80 in 2011. President Trump is accusing Biden of using an autopen to sign documents, as many presidents have over the years.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
President Trump is claiming without evidence that some of former President Joe Biden’s actions are invalid because he allegedly used a machine to automate signatures on documents, which is a longstanding practice in the White House.
In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump said his predecessor’s preemptive pardons of members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection are “hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OF EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.”
The notion that Biden relied on the autopen to sign important documents was heavily perpetuated by the Oversight Project, an arm of the Heritage Foundation that played a key role in promoting false claims about noncitizen voting last year.
Trump’s rhetoric fans the flames of conspiracies about Biden not really being in charge during his presidency. While concerns about Biden’s fitness for office forced him to call off his reelection campaign, the right has taken that to an extreme.
