In an interesting twist, former President Donald Trump is now being accused of using an autopen for some of his recent pardons, even after criticizing President Joe Biden for doing the same. Experts are saying Trump’s latest batch of pardons may have been signed with an autopen, leading to action from the Justice Department.
It’s no secret that Donald Trump has been vocal in his disdain for Joe Biden, especially regarding Biden’s alleged use of an autopen. Trump has ridiculed Biden with claims of age and health concerns, and he’s also accused him of excessively using the autopen to sign pardons, even suggesting those acts should be nullified. Famously, Trump even replaced Biden’s portrait in the White House with an autopen image when presenting his “Presidential Walk of Fame.”
Republican members of Congress have expressed concern over this issue too. They’ve prompted the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to initiate a thorough investigation.
The House Oversight Committee reported finding issues, stating, “Senior White House officials did not know who operated the autopen and its use was not sufficiently controlled… The Committee deems void all executive actions signed by the autopen without proper approval traceable to the president’s own consent.”
It’s worth noting, though, that using an autopen is a practice not exclusive to Biden. In fact, several past presidents, including Trump, have used it. On November 7, it is alleged that Trump authorized new pardons utilizing the autopen.
Experts Say Trump May Have Used Autopen on Recent Pardons
Trump reportedly pardoned several individuals on November 7, including former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada, and former New York police sergeant Michael McMahon, among others. Some forensic document experts have suggested that these pardons might have been signed using an autopen. According to The Guardian, experts told The Associated Press that the signatures on some of the documents posted on the Justice Department’s website appeared identical.
In response to these claims, the Justice Department corrected the online documents, replacing identically signed ones attributed to Trump. The agency explained this as a “technical error.” Chad Gilmartin, a spokesperson, commented to the Associated Press, “The website was updated after a technical error where one of the signatures President Trump personally signed was mistakenly uploaded multiple times due to staffing issues caused by the Democrat shutdown.”
The White House Responds to the Controversy
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, dismissed the issue as a “non-story.” In an email response, she reiterated that Trump had signed the pardons personally, “There is no story here other than the fact that President Trump signed seven pardons by hand and [the Department of Justice] posted those same seven pardons with seven unique signatures to our website,” added Gilmartin.
Jackson urged the media to focus on what she sees as a more newsworthy angle – Joe Biden’s alleged use of the autopen – rather than this incident involving Trump. She wrote, “The media should spend their time investigating Joe Biden’s countless autopenned pardons, not covering a non-story.”