The White House Counsel’s Office is investigating the Biden administration’s use of the autopen, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on July 17.
“The White House Counsel’s Office has launched their own investigation into former President [Joe] Biden’s usage of the autopen,” and the White House has requested documents from the National Archives, she said at a press briefing.
“As I’ve said many times from this podium, and the president has said as well, it’s incredibly important that we get to the bottom of who really was at the tip of the spear and the decision-making process here in the White House,” she said.
Leavitt noted that Biden told The New York Times that he did not approve every pardon in the final days of his presidency.
The NY Times reported that “Biden did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people” and that, instead, “after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence.”
Biden told the outlet he “made every decision,” and that the autopen was used on clemency moves because “we’re talking about a whole lot of people.”
Calling that “concerning,” Leavitt said President Donald Trump does not operate that way.
“It’s something this president would never tolerate. This is a president who is signing things all the time, any document that has legal implications, this president’s signature is on it because he’s the one making the decisions,” she said.
Leavitt said the American people have the right to know about the use of the autopen in the Biden White House.
“I know the American people want to receive answers on who was running the show here, as the decisions made in this place really destroyed our country, and we deserve to get to the bottom of it,” she said.
In June, Trump ordered an investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen, calling it “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”
“The counsel to the President, in consultation with the attorney general and the head of any other relevant executive department or agency (agency), shall investigate, to the extent permitted by law, whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president,” Trump said in a June 4 memorandum.
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