Trump Confirms Investigation into Alleged “Autopen Scandal” in Biden Administration

Former President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday that federal investigators are looking into what he described as a “serious breach of presidential protocol” involving the Biden administration’s alleged use of an autopen to authorize official actions — including pardons — without proper oversight.

Speaking from the White House during a foreign policy briefing, Trump turned a question about Venezuela into a broader critique of his predecessor’s leadership and management of executive authority.

“Venezuela’s sending criminals — some of the worst — into our country,” Trump said. “But the real danger isn’t only what they send; it’s what we allow because of weak leadership. We had a president who didn’t even realize what was happening — and people around him who did, but used him for their own agenda.”

Trump claimed that key decisions in the previous administration were not made by President Biden himself, but by unnamed aides who allegedly operated the presidential autopen — a mechanical device used to reproduce a president’s signature on official documents.

“You’ve heard about the autopen,” Trump said. “The person who pressed the button wasn’t the president — it was the people telling that person what to sign. They were the ones actually running the country. We’re not going to stand for that anymore.”

He continued, “That whole autopen situation — it’s now under serious investigation. People think it’s a joke, but it’s not. When you sign the name of a president on something like a pardon or a policy order without clear authorization, that’s fraud at the highest level.”

Trump also alluded to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s pardon, implying that it was one of the few documents that the former president “may have personally signed.”

Autopen Use Raises Questions Over Executive Oversight

The autopen, a long-standing but rarely scrutinized presidential tool, is traditionally employed for routine matters — such as signing ceremonial letters or standard correspondence — when a president is unavailable. However, newly surfaced internal emails from the Biden administration suggest the device may have been used to approve sensitive executive actions without direct review.

According to those communications, obtained by congressional investigators, White House aides expressed uncertainty in January 2025 about whether President Biden had personally reviewed documents authorizing thousands of federal clemency grants issued just days before he left office.

The emails detail a flurry of late-night exchanges among senior staffers in the White House Counsel’s Office and the Justice Department. They show confusion over whether the president had formally approved the final clemency warrants before his autopen signature was applied.

On the evening of January 16, then–White House Staff Secretary Stef Feldman reportedly emailed colleagues seeking confirmation that the president had indeed signed off on the list of recipients.
“I’m going to need something in writing confirming the President signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,” Feldman wrote at 9:16 p.m., according to the records.

Deputy Counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded the message to another official, noting that the president “doesn’t review the warrants” personally and asking for guidance. The following morning, roughly 2,500 clemency warrants were signed — by autopen — and the mass commutations were announced publicly before dawn on January 17.

Legal analysts note that while the autopen has full legal standing if the president authorizes its use, its legitimacy depends on whether the documents accurately reflect the president’s own intent.

White House Defense and Legal Uncertainty

When questioned earlier this year about the process, Biden defended the practice, telling the New York Times that the autopen was employed “because there were a lot of them” and time was limited. He did not address whether he personally reviewed each case before the signatures were added.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on Trump’s latest remarks but confirmed that “communications between White House staff and the Department regarding the use of autopen signatures are part of a broader review of procedural compliance.”

Constitutional law experts remain divided on the issue. Some argue that so long as the president expresses general approval, staff may execute mechanical signatures on his behalf. Others contend that using the autopen for high-level decisions like pardons or executive orders stretches legal boundaries.

“Clemency actions are among the most personal and discretionary powers a president has,” said Professor Angela Watkins of Columbia Law School. “If those decisions were made without his direct involvement, it could raise serious constitutional questions.”

Political Fallout

The emerging controversy, dubbed by critics the “Autopen Affair,” is fueling new debate about presidential accountability and the limits of executive delegation. Republicans on Capitol Hill have called for hearings to determine how many official documents may have been signed mechanically without the president’s explicit review.

For Trump and his allies, the issue offers a potent symbol of what they describe as an administration “run by unelected bureaucrats.”

“The people who told the autopen what to sign — those were the ones really in charge,” Trump said. “That’s not democracy. That’s deception.”