Trump Declares Biden's Autopen-Signed Documents "Terminated": Legal Questions Emerge

Former President Donald Trump declared on Friday that all documents signed via autopen under President Joe Biden's administration are "terminated," escalating his criticism against his predecessor in a move with uncertain legal implications.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden's alleged use of autopen for signing pardons, executive orders, and other official documents, claiming this practice demonstrates Biden was too mentally incapacitated to properly govern during his presidency.

"Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect," Trump announced on his social media platform.

He added, "I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally."

While autopen technology has been utilized by several previous administrations, Trump maintains that its use under Biden provides evidence that the former president lacked mental capacity and was not effectively leading the White House.

At the end of his term, Biden was 82 years old, while Trump is currently 79 and scheduled to remain in office until January 2029.

Conservative legal expert Ed Whelan noted on social media that while Trump has the authority to revoke executive orders regardless of how Biden signed them, "he doesn't have the same freedom with respect to 'anything else' (e.g., bills enacted by Congress, pardons) that Biden directed be signed by autopen."

The Justice Department issued guidance in 2005 stating that a president is not required to personally sign bills and may direct an official "to affix the president's signature to such a bill, for example by autopen."

The New York Times reported in 2011 that Barack Obama became the first president to sign legislation using an autopen while traveling in Europe. Even with autopen technology available, paper documents are sometimes still transported to the president for manual signing.

During his final days in office, Biden issued pardons for several individuals who had been targeted by Trump, including Biden's son, lawmakers who investigated Trump, a military general who had criticized Trump, and the nation's leading Covid-19 expert.