President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden are pictured in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit – Melina Mara—AP
President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into former President Joe Biden and his aides, accusing the latter of concealing Biden’s “serious cognitive decline” and abusing the power of Presidential signatures.
In a memorandum issued on Wednesday night—addressed to the Attorney General, the Counsel for President—Trump said “it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen,” describing it as one of the “most dangerous” scandals in U.S. history.
Biden referred to the claims as “ridiculous and false” in a statement issued following Trump’s announcement.
Within his presidential memoranda, Trump claims that aides of the former President used his signature, which was “deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.” He further alleges that the Department of Justice has found “clear evidence” that Biden broke the law, but that he could not stand trial due to “his incompetent mental state.”
“The White House issued over 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench, and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in United States history,” Trump said in the memo. “Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the President, there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name.”
The investigation comes after Trump re-posted a baseless claim via Truth Social, sharing a post which said Biden had been “executed in 2020” and replaced by a robotic clone.
Trump has also claimed that throughout Biden’s presidency, advisers “severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.”
According to Trump, what will the investigation aim to address?
Per the memorandum, the investigation will look for evidence of any activity conducted “to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health,” as well as evidence of any agreements amongst aides to “require false, public statements elevating the President’s capabilities.”
The investigation has also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to look at “circumstances surrounding Biden’s supposed execution of numerous executive actions during his final years in office.”
This will look into what documents were signed using autopen and who authorized this use for clemency grants, Executive Orders, memoranda, and other policy decisions made by Biden.
What is the controversy surrounding autopen signatures?
As part of Trump’s investigation order, he accuses Biden aides of abusing the use of an autopen to sign official documents such as Executive Orders, and claims this was done to conceal Biden’s “incapacity.”
In March, Trump made a claim on Truth Social that pardons issued by Biden for members of the house select committee who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots were “void and vacant,” as an autopen was used to sign them.
On Wednesday, before publishing his memorandum, Trump said via social media: “With the exception of the rigged presidential election of 2020 the autopen is the biggest political scandal in American history.”
Autopens have long been used by Presidents throughout U.S. history. It’s thought they were first used by Thomas Jefferson after the device was patented in 1803. Whilst the autopen has evolved over the last 200 years, it has been used by other Presidents including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson during their time in the Oval Office
Trump himself has admitted to using an autopen. When asked by NBC in March if he has used the device, Trump replied: “Only for very unimportant papers, and I don’t call them unimportant… where people write in and they’d love to have a response. When the reporter attempted a further question, Trump replied: “I don’t want to speak to NBC anymore.”
In 2005, at the request of former President George W. Bush, a memorandum opinion was published regarding whether the President may sign a bill by directing that his signature be affixed to it. The opinion found that “if a White House aide were to sign his own name to a bill, that bill would not thereby become law. By contrast, the President’s directive to an aide to affix the President’s signature to a bill does not involve a delegation of authority.”
In conclusion “the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law.”
How has Biden responded to the allegations?
The former President has responded to Trump’s claims of presidential power abuse and his declining cognitive state during his time in office. In a statement, Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
He continued: “This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”
Biden was seemingly referring to Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,’ which is currently under consideration by Senators after being passed in the House of Representatives last month. However, it’s facing significant criticism, as Trump ally Elon Musk, who until recently served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has called it “outrageous, pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”
The allegations put forward by Trump come a couple of weeks after Biden announced he has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer. Trump initially sent his best wishes to Biden after the news, but he soon went on to make claims that the diagnosis had been concealed. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “There are things going on that the public wasn’t informed, and I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor.”
Vice President J.D. Vance issued a similar response. While travelling on Air Force One, he said to reporters: “Why didn’t the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn’t the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?”
Concerns over Biden’s cognitive fitness and age—by the end of his term, he was 82 years old—have long been a talking point. In February 2024, Biden’s White House physician declared that he was “fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without without any exemptions or accommodations.”
However, concerns only grew as the presidential race kicked into gear, and Biden was heavily scrutinized after the first presidential debate with Trump in July 2024, which saw the Democratic leader stumble over his words and seemingly lose his trail of thought. He later admitted to having had “a bad night.”
After the debate, there was an increase in calls and pressure for him to drop out of the race, and Biden withdrew his candidacy in late July, before endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.
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