The White House counsel’s office has launched an internal investigation into President Joe Biden’s long-term use of an autopen an electronic signature device for signing commutations and other official documents.
According to a senior administration official speaking to Fox News, the review could involve up to one million documents.
This move comes as House Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), ramp up their own probe into Biden’s use of the autopen especially in connection with a wave of pardons and sentence reductions, including some high-profile decisions at the end of his term. Comer has subpoenaed former Biden aides, and the Justice Department is also conducting a separate investigation.
Donald Trump and his allies have seized on the issue, calling Biden’s use of the device evidence of incompetence and claiming it invalidates key decisions. On Monday, Trump told reporters, “The autopen may be one of the biggest scandals in 50 to 100 years. I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing.”
Biden, in an interview with The New York Times, pushed back strongly. “I made every decision,” he said, adding that aides documented his involvement through internal emails and meetings before using the device to formalize his orders.
During his presidency, Biden commuted the sentences of around 4,000 federal inmates and issued preemptive pardons to a number of high-profile figures including Gen. Mark Milley and members of the January 6 Committee sparking further political controversy.
Responding to Trump’s repeated claims that he was mentally unfit, Biden said: “Everybody knows how vindictive he is. So we knew they’d do what they’re doing now. I consciously made all those decisions.”
The scrutiny intensified last week after Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s former White House physician, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the House committee.
Comer said the move “appears criminal on the surface,” while Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called Biden “the worst, most incompetent, and senile president in our history.” She also accused him of handing presidential powers to “unelected leftist staffers.”
Biden, 82, who is currently undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and working on a memoir, defended the use of the autopen. “There were too many commutations to sign one by one,” he said. “We’re talking about a whole lot of people.”
