President Trump announced early Monday that he is nullifying the last-minute pardons issued by former President Joe Biden through the use of an autopen.
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump posted on Truth Social in the early hours of Monday.
The 47th president argued that Biden had not personally signed the pardons and, more significantly, was unaware of them.
“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” he stated, alluding to concerns regarding the 82-year-old president’s cognitive abilities.
Trump further asserted that Biden had not given proper authorization for the pardons to be issued.
“The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden,” he claimed. “He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.”
The former president also cautioned that individuals pardoned from the now-defunct January 6th House committee could face intense legal scrutiny.
“Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level,” Trump declared.
“The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”
On his last day in office, Biden granted clemency to several individuals, including preemptive pardons for all nine members of the January 6th Committee. Among them were Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who later publicly endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2025 election.
Biden also extended pardons in his final hours as president to high-profile figures such as General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s former chief medical advisor.
Milley had been a vocal critic of Trump, referring to him as a “wannabe dictator” and providing testimony about his actions surrounding the events of January 6th during the House probe.
Dr. Fauci, who stepped down from his position in 2022, had stirred controversy by initially dismissing the possibility that COVID-19 originated from a Chinese laboratory.
Republicans, including Trump, have accused the 84-year-old immunologist of misleading Congress regarding the government’s involvement in funding gain-of-function research.
Fauci denied to lawmakers that, during his tenure as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), federal funding was directed to EcoHealth Alliance for gain-of-function research.
Nonetheless, both congressional and federal oversight inquiries found evidence suggesting U.S. tax dollars had indeed supported such research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Trump reacted with fury to Biden’s clemency decisions, calling them “disgraceful” and declaring, “Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES!”
Whether any judicial body will move to overturn Biden’s pardons on the basis of the autopen issue remains to be seen.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey recently raised concerns that numerous executive orders signed under Biden featured identical autopen signatures.
Bailey suggested that “if true, these executive orders, pardons, and all other actions are unconstitutional and legally void.”
“I am demanding the DOJ investigate whether President Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval,” Bailey stated.
{Matzav.com}
I voted for President Trump and would do so again in a nanosecond. Unfortunately, a helping of “Crazy” comes along with the policies that we so approve of and appreciate. So be it; the honey is still worth the sting.
“The former president also cautioned that individuals pardoned from the now-defunct January 6th House committee could face intense legal scrutiny.”
I think this probably should have read: The President (i.e. President Trump) cautioned that individuals from the now-defunct January 6th House Committee who have since been pardoned pardoned could face intense legal scrutiny. [Otherwise the sentence makes little sense from a grammar perspective.]