Trump Orders Investigation Into Biden’s Executive Actions, Autopen Allegations

The investigation will focus on whether there was unlawful misuse of an autopen, a device that creates a facsimile of a presidential signature.

President Joe Biden looks on after delivering his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office on Jan. 15, 2025. Mandel Ngan/Pool via Getty Images

President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into whether officials in the Biden administration illegally exercised presidential power by using an autopen—a device that reproduces a presidential signature—without President Joe Biden’s direction.

A June 4 memorandum signed by Trump directs his administration to investigate “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”

In the memorandum, Trump wrote: “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.

“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.  The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”

The Department of Justice will also determine whether or not it was Biden who expressed his intent to authorize the use of an autopen for signing presidential actions during his term.

It’s an investigation that, if it moves forward and uncovers evidence that Biden wasn’t involved in key decisions, could allow Republicans to claim that some of his executive actions are invalid under the law.

In a fact sheet about the order, the White House cited longstanding public reporting across Biden’s single term in office, questioning his mental acuity and fitness for the job.

“Reports indicate that, for years, Biden suffered from serious cognitive decline,” the fact sheet stated.

It specifically cited the findings of Special Counsel Robert Hur, whose investigation into Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents concluded without going forward in part because of Hur’s ruling that Biden’s mental state precluded him from standing trial.

“Although the Department of Justice found that Biden had violated the law by willfully retaining and disclosing classified materials, it ultimately concluded that Biden was unfit to stand trial given his incompetent mental state,” the White House stated.

It accused Biden’s advisers of “severely [restricting] his news conferences and media appearances, [and] scripting his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors.”

The statement said that the investigation would focus on whether there was unlawful misuse of an autopen.

“The combined nature of Biden’s documented cognitive decline and the repeated use of an autopen raises serious concerns about the legitimacy of his actions,” the fact sheet stated.

It claimed that an autopen was used by the White House to issue more than 1,200 presidential documents, appoint 235 judges to the federal bench, and issue more pardons and commutations than any administration in U.S. history.

The Justice Department ruled in 2005 that a verbal or implied directive from the president makes it legal for a subordinate to use an autopen to sign a document on the president’s behalf, provided that the action is executing the intent of the president.