On Friday, President Donald Trump persisted in his endeavors to discredit the actions undertaken during Joe Biden’s tenure, asserting via a social media update that he is “nullifying every executive order, and anything else lacking a direct signature” from his immediate predecessor.
This proclamation by Trump, delivered through a posting on Truth Social, naturally sparks several inquiries. Foremost among these is the matter of whether he legally possesses the authority to reverse the previous president’s acts based on the rationale he presented.
“Every single document affixed with Sleepy Joe Biden’s signature via the Autopen, which accounted for roughly 92% of the total, is hereby rendered void, possessing no further legal standing or consequence,” Trump stated, offering no specifics on what the 92% encompassed.
“The use of the Autopen is prohibited unless specific sanction is granted by the President of the United States,” he further remarked.
Trump went on to allege that Biden “had no participation in the Autopen process” and issued a warning that “should he claim otherwise, he will face charges of perjury.”
“The decisions originating from the Radical Left Lunatics surrounding Biden near the magnificent Resolute Desk in the Oval Office have wrested the Presidency from him. I am therefore revoking all Executive Orders, and any measure not personally signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because those operating the Autopen did so unlawfully. Joe Biden was absent from the Autopen procedure, and if he asserts involvement, he will be prosecuted for perjury. My gratitude for your attention to this situation!” Trump concluded in his message.
Biden has publicly refuted claims of any “cover-up” by his administration, maintaining that he personally made every presidential decision and labeling Republicans suggesting otherwise as “deceivers.”
Trump has maintained a prolonged focus on Biden’s utilization of the autopen. Back in March, he emphasized the notion that the former President’s habit of using the device to finalize paperwork indicated a lack of control while occupying the White House, and consequently rendered his actions “invalid.”
At that time, esteemed scholar of conservative executive power, John Yoo, intimated to CNN that Trump was essentially “engaging in jest at Biden’s expense.”
Subsequently, Trump initiated an official inquiry into Biden’s autopen usage and its alleged relationship to the ex-president’s “cognitive decline.”
Back in 2005, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (under the Republican administration of George W. Bush) undertook a comprehensive evaluation regarding the lawfulness of a president employing the autopen. Their finding concluded that “the President is not obligated to physically apply his own signature to a bill in order to sign it as stipulated under Article I, Section 7.”
Trump has most frequently directed his autopen theory toward the pardons issued by Biden. However, established legal precedents from prior administrations contradict this position even in that domain. A memo from the US solicitor general dating to 1929 pointed out that the Constitution does not even mandate a specific procedure for granting pardons.
A separate probe conducted by Congress asserted that it remained a significant query whether Biden possessed knowledge regarding the content of various pardons and commutations signed under his name via autopen, yet it failed to produce any concrete evidence suggesting that any individual other than Biden made the determinations that his staff subsequently implemented.
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