President Donald Trump accused aides to Joe Biden of allegedly committing "crimes" by misusing the White House autopen to sign pardons and executive orders without Biden's knowledge, calling it a scandal "worse than Watergate" during an interview on The Post's "Pod Force One" podcast, the New York Post reported.
Aides to former President Joe Biden allegedly committed "crimes" by using the White House autopen to authorize presidential actions without his direct involvement, Trump said Monday during an interview with Miranda Devine on "Pod Force One."
"The people who ran this country were radical left lunatics ... They didn't want [Biden]. They wanted Bernie Sanders," Trump told Devine from the White House. "I think for the first two weeks [after Biden took office], they were really, really disappointed. They couldn't even believe it. And then they realized that you had somebody that didn't know what he was doing. They could do anything they wanted because the autopen was the power."
"That's a crime to do that to the country," Trump added. "Well, number one, I really believe it was a crime because I don't think he knew he was doing it. I think that people took over the autopen. They got things signed that shouldn't have been signed."
Trump asserted Biden's earlier positions on immigration, showing that the 46th president once favored stronger borders. "I don't believe he ever wanted open borders," Trump said. "If you go back and look a few years before, he wanted borders as tight as I did. And so they took over the White House. These people took over. They're sick. And what they've done is terrible."
Biden issued dozens of executive actions beginning Jan. 20, 2021, including reversing Trump's "Remain in Mexico" asylum policy, reimplementing the DACA program, and an order halting the U.S.-Mexico border wall project.
The president's liberal use of pardons — many bearing identical, machine-made signatures — has drawn scrutiny, with critics citing Biden's alleged cognitive decline and possible misuse of the autopen.
The Justice Department launched an investigation into the matter last week. House Republicans, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., have also launched a probe into claims Biden aides hid his mental decline.
In a June 4 memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump blamed White House aides who "abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline and assert Article II authority."
Biden pushed back in a statement, saying, "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false."
Some of Biden's more recent pardons, including one issued Dec. 1, 2024, for his son Hunter, appear to have been signed by hand. Others, such as those shielding Biden family members from future prosecution, appear more uniform and darker in tone — features often associated with autopen usage.
"You could just sign as much as you want," Trump said. "You see, it's exactly the same. There's zero change. When you sign your name, every one's a little bit different, right? When you have an autopen, it's exactly the same thing."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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