President Trump issued a directive on Wednesday tasking his administration with launching an investigation into whether aides to Joe Biden “conspired to deceive the public” about his cognitive state and used an autopen to approve documents without his direct involvement.
“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,” Trump stated in a formal memorandum addressed to his legal counsel and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Labeling the situation as a major breach of trust, Trump wrote, “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” adding, “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.”
Trump raised questions about Biden’s actual involvement in executive actions over his term, asserting that “there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness” related to presidential directives he allegedly signed. These included controversial pardons for members of his own family and commutations for individuals convicted of murder.
In the memo, Trump instructed, “The Counsel to the President, in consultation with the Attorney General and the head of any other relevant executive department or agency (agency), shall investigate, to the extent permitted by law, whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”
The investigation will also examine efforts to “purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health,” as well as the authenticity of executive actions allegedly approved during his final years in office—particularly those bearing autopen signatures.
“Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name,” Trump wrote in the document.
The inquiry will also aim to uncover any internal agreements among Biden’s team “to cooperatively and falsely deem recorded videos of the President’s cognitive inability as fake” and to pressure individuals into issuing “false, public statements elevating the President’s capabilities.”
In response, Biden issued a statement to multiple press outlets pushing back on the accusations. “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 stated.
He went on to say, “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.”
Trump’s memo follows a recent email from Department of Justice pardon attorney Ed Martin, who instructed his team to investigate whether Biden was of sound mind when certain decisions were made, including if autopen use obscured involvement from others.
The probe will specifically review pardons issued to five of Biden’s relatives—his son Hunter, siblings James, Frank, and Valerie, along with their spouses—as well as the 2024 commutations for 37 federal death row inmates.
Martin had previously stated that while the president’s power to grant clemency is broad, the use of an autopen in such circumstances justifies deeper evaluation.
On Capitol Hill, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is spearheading a separate inquiry into Biden’s mental fitness and autopen use. Meanwhile, Senators Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) are organizing a Senate hearing next month to examine Biden’s cognitive state more closely.
{Matzav.com}
