Washington: Donald Trump announced that he plans to revoke most of the executive orders issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
In a social media post, Trump falsely claimed that Biden had not personally authorized many of his own executive orders. He alleged without evidence that “radical left lunatics” surrounding Biden signed documents for him using an autopen, a mechanical signature device that U.S. presidents have used for decades.
Trump insisted that an autopen cannot be used without explicit presidential approval and asserted, again baselessly, that Biden “was not involved in the Autopen process,” claiming that about 92% of Biden’s executive orders were therefore invalid. He further said that Biden would be guilty of perjury if he denied this.
These accusations echo Trump’s repeated, unsubstantiated claims that Biden was cognitively impaired near the end of his presidency and not actually making key decisions. Trump has long suggested, without proof, that Biden’s aides forged his signature with an autopen and enacted policies without his awareness.
He has also questioned the legitimacy of pardons and other documents signed with the device despite the long history of presidents using autopens, and despite his own use of one. In 2005, the Justice Department affirmed that a president may direct an official to apply his signature to a bill via autopen.
Trump’s broad declaration raises significant questions about how he could realistically overturn Biden’s pardons or executive actions, since presidents are legally allowed to use autopens and there is no evidence that Biden’s authority was bypassed.
Nevertheless, Republicans quickly celebrated Trump’s announcement. The Oversight Project, a unit of the conservative Heritage Foundation that has amplified claims about Biden’s autopen use, praised Trump on X for acting on their “historic Autopen investigation.”
Representative James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, also applauded Trump, saying Biden’s autopen-related actions were “NULL AND VOID.”
The committee previously issued a report on Biden’s autopen use that made sweeping allegations but offered no evidence that aides acted without Biden’s approval or that he was unaware of any laws, pardons, or executive orders signed in his name. The report alleged a “cover-up” of Biden’s cognitive decline and heavily criticized some of his pardons, which have angered Trump.
Democrats dismissed the report as baseless, emphasizing its lack of supporting evidence. Legal experts have warned that trying to invalidate past executive actions could create serious problems, given how commonly autopens have been used by previous presidents.
Conservative legal analyst Ed Whelan noted that while Trump can revoke Biden’s executive orders regardless of how they were signed, he does not have the authority to undo other actions such as laws enacted by Congress or pardons properly executed using an autopen at Biden’s direction.