President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested he would be looking into the use of a mechanical signing device to approve executive orders and legislation during the Biden administration and baselessly implied that his predecessor wasn’t aware of actions taken under his authority during his time in office.
Trump was addressing a group of reporters at the U.S. Capitol ahead of a meeting with House Republicans on his “Big Beautiful Bill” legislative package when he suddenly pivoted the conversation to former president Joe Biden’s use of an autopen, which he and his GOP allies have claimed was used without his knowledge to approve documents unlawfully.
“I really we’re going to start looking into this whole thing with who signed this legislation, who signed legislation opening our border,” said Trump.
Biden never actually signed any law or order to “open” America’s borders, but he did sign an executive order repealing several harsh anti-immigrant policies enacted during Trump’s first term. Immigration restrictionists have argued that the Trump-era policies contributed to lower numbers of asylum seekers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and blame Biden for a surge in migrants because they say his policies were too tolerant.
Continuing, Trump claimed that Biden was not responsible for the policies at issue because he “didn’t sign anything” even though Biden signed at least one of the orders in question on camera shortly after taking office in 2021. He again suggested that unnamed aides were the ones who were actually in charge of the government during Biden’s term.
“Who was operating the autopen? This is a very serious thing. We had a president that didn’t sign anything,” he said.
Instead, Trump suggested — without offering any evidence — that the device was being used to authorize actions by “radical left lunatics that were running our country” who were “disappointed” in Biden’s election because they would have preferred Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran unsuccessfully for president against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary.
“You know who signed it? Radical Left lunatics that were running our country and the auto pen signed it, and they didn’t want him, and they were disappointed in getting him, because they wanted Bernie Sanders. And then after about two weeks, they said, Wait a minute, this is a gift. He’ll do anything. We’re going to use the auto pen, and they use the auto pen and everything,” he said. “We are going to go into very much … remember what I said, the autopen, this government was illegally run for four years.”
An autopen is a device designed to replicate a handwritten signature, without the direct involvement of a human.
The individual’s signature is digitally recorded and stored and a robotic arm holding a pen or pencil creates a near-exact replica of the signature on paper. Only a well-trained eye could spot the difference between a hand-written signature and a well-done autosignature.
Presidents have signed documents using signature copying devices since Thomas Jefferson used a machine known as a polygraph in 1804, according to the National Museum of American History. He is believed to have called it “the finest invention of the present age.”
Trump has been seemingly obsessed with Biden’s use of the autopen, which the Justice Department has approved for presidential use since the Obama administration, since the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project used filings in the Federal Register to suggest that Biden never signed any of the last-minute actions taken during the waning hours of his administration, including controversial pardons for his family members and prominent targets of Trump and his allies.
in March, he said that Biden’s pardons are “void” and those he granted clemency to – ranging from members of the January 6 House select committee to the the former president’s own family – would be subject to investigation “at the highest level.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has also claimed that Biden’s use of the autopen shows that the ex-president “wasn’t capable of making decisions” and says he is investigating the matter.
Over the weekend, he told Fox News that he wants to speak with a trio of ex-Biden aides about the device’s use: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams.
“This is one of the greatest scandals of our generation, and Americans are demanding answers,” he said. “Now that Biden’s top enablers can no longer hide behind the power of the presidency, we’re continuing our investigation to expose the truth.”
Comer also suggested that Biden “lacked the mental capacity” to “authorize” use of the autopen for the last-minute pardons.
