Former President Joe Biden attracted criticism for allegedly utilizing an autopen. Throughout his presidency, he signed official documents with an autopen. An autopen is a machine that may replicate signatures. This approach raised questions about Biden’s grasp of the ideas he endorsed. Continue reading to learn more about how Biden’s autopen signature has sparked criticism.
Reports of Autopen Use
The Oversight Project is a group linked to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. They published a report claiming that Biden used an autopen for many official documents. Also, they stated that his autopen signatures appeared on almost every document they reviewed. Moreover, critics argue that this raises doubts about Biden’s ability to lead the country. The Project stated that whoever controlled the autopen controlled the presidency. This statement suggests that the use of the autopen could undermine the authority of the President.
Concerns About Biden’s Mental Acuity
Biden’s final years in office raised concerns about his age and mental capacity. Also, he made mistakes often and appeared puzzled in public. Therefore, many people were concerned about his cognitive ability in light of these instances. Despite these worries, Biden assured people that he was qualified to fight for reelection against Trump.
However, he eventually withdrew from the race. This was because he was under pressure from fellow Democrats. Also, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. After Trump’s win, reports suggested that Biden’s aides tried to hide the severity of his situation.
Details of the Oversight Project Findings
The Project did not provide many details about its investigation. They did not disclose how many documents they reviewed. However, they claimed to have collected every document they could find. These have his signature from during his presidency.
They shared three documents as examples. Two of them were executive orders. They were signed by Biden. This was in August 2022 and December 2024. Both these documents included the identical autopen signature. The third document was a letter. It announced Biden’s departure from the presidential campaign. This was a separate signature. Thus, this mismatch prompted additional suspicions about the signatures’ validity.
Implications of Using an Autopen
The Project speculated that Biden may not have personally signed these documents.
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They raised concerns about who controlled the autopen. Also, they questioned whether he had the mental capacity to approve these documents. The group called for investigations to determine the facts surrounding these signatures.
It is proven that Biden did not sign the documents. Thus, it could lead to significant legal issues. Some argue that this could make Biden’s executive orders and other actions unconstitutional and void.
Comparisons to Other Presidents
Former President Donald Trump also used an autopen during his time in office. An analysis showed that 25 of Trump’s signatures on the Federal Register had the same signature. Also, Barack Obama was the first president to use an autopen to sign an executive order.
Reactions from Critics
Several critics from the MAGA community expressed outrage over Biden’s use of autopen. Influencers and commentators voiced their concerns on social media. Moreover, Johnny Midnight is a MAGA influencer. He stated that the use of the autopen raised serious legal questions. Also, he claimed that if this were proven in court, it could invalidate Biden’s actions.
Political commentator Rogan O’Handley suggested that if courts ruled Biden’s signatures invalid, it could affect federal pardons and other actions. Moreover, Andrew Bailey is the Attorney General of Missouri. He has an investigation into the use of the autopen. He also questioned whether Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through policies without his approval. He argued that if Biden did not approve these actions, they would be unconstitutional.
Trump has also used Autopen to sign executive orders
While President Donald Trump has been utilizing his strength in accusing Joe Biden of using an autopen to sign documents, people are wondering if he does, too. Not to their surprise, Trump has also used autopen technology to sign several executive orders, according to Yahoo. According to the analysis, his first and second administrations had exactly similar signatures in the documents. Thus, it is clear that he has also used an autopen to sign several crucial federal documents, just like Biden.
Moreover, the Daily Mail analysis has claimed that 25 signatures in all the documents have been signed through autopen technology. Still, he has maintained a strict rule in the White House to reduce the use of autopen technology. It is quite contradictory that his new reign as the US President has been following the rule he never followed.
Moreover, he mentioned in that session that the autopen will be used only if a document needs frequent Presidential signatures. He took control of the use of the autopen, which will only be used in the parliament at his discretion.
Trump’s claims against Joe Biden on the use of Autopen
Trump has spent a lot of time bringing down Joe Biden’s image in public since the elections. Moreover, his claims about Biden’s actions, age, medical health, etc., have always posed new issues for Biden. Apart from that, he has mentioned several times to Democrats about their incompetence with Joe Biden in the elections. According to him, only if he hadn’t used the autopen so frequently to sign the federal documents, it would have been different. Additionally, he has been collecting evidence against him using an autopen to show the public.
He and the administration are trying to bring such information, which shows minute oversights in the document by Biden. If there is a spelling error, but Biden has signed the document, they claim that he didn’t read it. Moreover, there might be more cases than the existing one about how Biden oversaw some mistakes in the document.
However, CNN has reported that the claims to use the autopen is used in every document are NOT true. This is because the White House has always emphasized signing the important federal documents manually, just like everyone else.
