‘Ridiculous and false!’ Cancer-stricken Biden, 82, lashes out at Republican probe into whether aides secretly ran country using signature machine
Joe Biden has furiously rejected claims that he wasn’t in control of White House decisions, dismissing Republican allegations as “ridiculous and false” after Donald Trump ordered an unprecedented investigation into whether aides used an autopen to cover up the former president’s cognitive decline.
The 82-year-old former president, who is battling aggressive prostate cancer, issued a defiant statement last night insisting “I made the decisions” on everything from pardons to executive orders – as Republicans zero in on his use of a signature-signing machine for key presidential documents.
In an extraordinary escalation, Trump directed his White House counsel to investigate what he called “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” alleging Biden’s aides may have “unconstitutionally” wielded presidential power while concealing their boss’s mental state from the public.
The explosive probe could theoretically undermine thousands of Biden’s executive actions and pardons, including controversial last-minute clemencies for his son Hunter, brother James, and members of the January 6 committee.
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden fired back in a blistering statement. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Trump’s bombshell memo: ‘THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL’
President Trump’s Wednesday night memo painted a damning picture of alleged deception in the Biden White House, ordering investigators to probe 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 specifically examine:
- Which documents were signed using the autopen
- Who directed the use of the device
- Any efforts to “purposefully shield” the public from information about Biden’s health
- Whether aides acted without Biden’s knowledge or consent
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,” Trump wrote in his executive order.
The President added: “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power.”
Earlier in the day, Trump had taken to Truth Social to declare the alleged autopen abuse “THE BIGGEST POLITICAL SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY” – aside from the 2020 election, which he continues to claim was rigged.
Republicans smell blood as House probe intensifies
The White House investigation comes as House Republicans ramp up their own probe into Biden’s mental fitness, with Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer declaring they’re “focused on the autopen.
“Who was making the decisions? Who was authorizing his signature? Was it him?” Comer told NBC News, announcing plans to subpoena key Biden aides who he says “ran interference” for the president.
The Kentucky Republican has his sights set on three former White House insiders:
- Annie Tomasini, former Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff
- Anthony Bernal, former Senior Advisor to the First Lady
- Ashley Williams, former Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations
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 declared.
The committee is also demanding testimony from Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and is reportedly considering whether to drag Biden himself before Congress – a move Comer said last week he was “open” to if necessary.
The autopen controversy: What’s really at stake?
At the center of the scandal is the autopen – a mechanical device that uses a robotic arm with a pen attached to duplicate signatures. While presidents have used them for decades, Republicans claim Biden’s use was different and potentially illegal.
According to congressional investigators, internal memoranda show “a significant number of clemency warrants were executed using batch-format autopen signatures,” raising questions about whether Biden was directly involved in crucial decisions.
The stakes are enormous. Under Biden, the White House:
- Issued more than 1,200 presidential documents
- Appointed 235 judges to the federal bench
- Granted more pardons and commutations than any administration in U.S. history
- Signed sweeping executive orders on everything from climate change to immigration
Trump’s memo suggests that if aides “secretly” used the pen while Biden was incapacitated, it “would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency” – potentially invalidating countless government actions.
Biden fights back: ‘A distraction from tax cuts for the wealthy’
The former president didn’t hold back in his counterattack, accusing Trump and Republicans of manufacturing the scandal to distract from their legislative agenda.
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 charged.
A former Biden White House official, speaking anonymously, defended the autopen use: “Any accusation that President Biden was not making decisions is false. It is a well-established and legal practice to use an autopen for a signature after he has made the decision.”
The legal precedent that could save Biden
Legal experts note that the use of autopens has been standard practice for decades. A 2005 Justice Department memo from the George W. Bush administration concluded that a 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.
Barack Obama became the first president known to use an autopen to sign legislation in 2011, when he signed a Patriot Act extension while in France.
Even Trump himself has admitted to using the device, telling reporters in March: “I mean, we may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter, because it’s nice.
But he added: “To sign pardons and all of the things that [Biden] signed with an autopen is disgraceful.”
The pardons under scrutiny
Republicans have particularly focused on Biden’s final-week pardons, which included:
- Preemptive clemencies for Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Rep. Liz Cheney
- Blanket pardons for Hunter Biden and James Biden
- Commutations for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Pardons for members of the House January 6 committee
Many of these were signed between January 16 and 19, just days before Trump’s inauguration, using what investigators claim were “batch-format autopen signatures.
Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel for the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, said those who received preemptive pardons should be on the deposition list: “They’re certainly eligible to be deposed in this situation, and they cannot assert the Fifth Amendment for these pardons either.”
The health crisis fueling suspicions
The investigation comes amid mounting concerns about Biden’s health. Last month, his office confirmed he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer – a revelation that has intensified questions about his capacity during his final months in office.
A bombshell new book, “Original Sin” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, claims that one White House insider said: “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.
The book details how Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Trump – which ultimately led to his withdrawal from the presidential race – exposed cognitive issues his aides had allegedly been concealing.
Trump’s personal vendetta
Sources familiar with the discussions told CNN that Trump has been “personally fixated” on Biden’s autopen use for weeks, privately telling top officials it needed to be investigated.
The Justice Department’s new Weaponization Working Group, led by Ed Martin, has already begun breathing new life into the project, recently sending letters to the National Archives requesting information about White House operations under Biden.
A senior Trump Justice Department official told staff Monday they’ve been directed to investigate whether Biden was competent and whether others “took advantage of him” through autopen use when granting clemency.
What happens next?
The unprecedented nature of Trump’s investigation leaves many questions unanswered:
- Can presidential pardons really be voided after the fact?
- What legal authority does Trump have to investigate his predecessor?
- Will Biden or his aides be compelled to testify?
- Could thousands of government actions be invalidated?
Legal scholars have expressed skepticism about Trump’s ability to overturn Biden’s actions, noting that the Constitution places few limits on presidential clemency powers and doesn’t require pardons to be signed at all.
But with Republicans controlling both the House investigation and the executive branch probe, Biden and his allies face months of intense scrutiny over who was really calling the shots during his presidency.
As one Republican investigator put it: “The American people deserve to know who was actually calling the shots in the Biden White House, because it wasn’t Joe Biden.”
For the cancer-stricken former president, the fight to defend his legacy has only just begun.
