United States President Donald Trump says he is “canceling” executive orders and other actions from Joe Biden’s presidency that were signed with an autopen, escalating a long-running Republican effort to cast doubt on Biden’s decision-making while in office.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump asserted that documents bearing an autopen signature were invalid unless Biden personally signed them, claiming without evidence that aides used the device to bypass a mentally declining president. He said roughly 92% of Biden’s executive actions fell into that category and warned that if Biden insisted he approved them, he could face perjury charges, even though Biden has not testified under oath about the matter.
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Donald Trump and Joe Biden
(Photo: White House, Evan Vucci/ AP, Liesa Johannssen/ Reuters)
Biden has rejected the autopen allegations in the past. He said publicly in June that he made all decisions on pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations, calling suggestions otherwise false. His camp did not immediately respond to Trump’s latest statement.
Autopens, which replicate a person’s signature, have been used for decades in the White House by presidents of both parties, including Trump. Barack Obama was the first to sign legislation via autopen while overseas, and Biden used the tool while traveling to avoid delays in time-sensitive measures. There is no public accounting of how often Biden relied on it, but its use has been routine for presidents managing heavy document flows.
The larger legal question is whether a president can invalidate a predecessor’s actions solely because an autopen was used. A Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion from the George W. Bush era concluded that the president does not need to physically sign a bill for it to become law, as long as he directs that his signature be affixed. Legal analysts say that principle has generally been understood to cover other presidential documents as well. Trump’s claim therefore appears to rest on proving a lack of authorization, not the mere presence of an autopen signature.
Republicans in Congress and conservative advocacy groups have pressed the autopen issue for months, arguing that some Biden-era directives were not properly approved. A recent House Republican push called for a Justice Department investigation, though no direct evidence has been made public showing that staff acted without Biden’s consent.
Trump has already moved to reverse several Biden executive orders through standard executive authority. His new autopen rationale could widen the fight into courts and Congress, while further entrenching the political narrative he is building about the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency.