President Donald Trump has declared that the preemptive pardons issued by Joe Biden in the final hours of his presidency are “void, vacant, and of no further force or effect.” These pardons were granted to several high-profile individuals, including Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and lawmakers and staffers from the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Trump’s assertion is based on the claim that Biden used an autopen, a machine that automatically adds a signature to documents, rather than signing the pardons by hand. The president emphasized that Biden “did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” This statement suggests that Trump believes the pardons are invalid because Biden was not directly involved in the signing process.
The use of an autopen is not uncommon in presidential procedures. In fact, it has been used by various presidents, including Biden and his predecessors, to sign legislation and executive orders. However, the legitimacy of using an autopen for pardons is a gray area, with no definitive court ruling on the matter.
Biden’s decision to issue these pardons was met with controversy and criticism from both opponents and fellow Democrats. The move was seen as an attempt to shield individuals from potential political retribution by the Trump administration. Trump himself has stated that the validity of the pardons is not his decision to make, but rather up to the courts to determine.
In a Truth Social post, Trump echoed the concerns raised by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which suggested that Biden’s use of an autopen for the pardons may have been improper. The foundation pointed out that it found apparently identical signatures on several Biden documents, which could imply that the autopen was used without Biden’s direct involvement.
Ultimately, the fate of these pardons remains uncertain, and their validity will likely be determined by the courts. As Trump stated, “It’s not my decision, that’ll be up to a court. But I would say that they’re null and void”.
