Trump says that because Biden used an autopen, his pardons for the Jan. 6 committee are "invalid."
Early on Monday, President Donald Trump asserted without supporting evidence that his predecessor's pardons of members of the House select committee that looked into the Capitol attacks on January 6, 2021, were void because Joe Biden, who was president at the time, did not use a real pen.
Trump posted on his Truth Social website, saying, "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden granted to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and numerous others, are hereby proclaimed VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because they were done by Autopen."
Trump continued by claiming that all of the committee members will be "subject to inquiry at the highest level" because Biden was unaware of the pardons and did not authorize them.
The U.S. Constitution, however, makes it clear that the president has the only administrative authority to pardon, and it contains no clause allowing other presidents to do so, whether it be for matters pertaining to the choice of pen or anything else.
According to 2005 guidelines from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, which President George W. Bush commissioned, Biden and President Barack Obama both utilized an autopen device to sign official documents. This practice is legally enforceable.
This includes the use of an autopen. The office stated that "the President need not physically conduct the physical act of affixing his signature to a measure he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law."
The Oversight Project, a division of the right-wing research tank Heritage Foundation, seems to have served as the inspiration for Trump's remarks made overnight. Last Monday, the organization asked on X if Biden had the "mental capacity" to have his signature added by an autopen.
Whether the president intended to take immediate action or launch an investigation against the committee members is unknown.
The president cannot pardon offenses connected to impeachment, and a presidential pardon must be properly delivered to the recipient. However, it is unclear what legal path Trump plans to use in order to reverse Biden's directives.
The president cannot pardon offenses connected to impeachment, and a presidential pardon must be properly delivered to the recipient. However, it is unclear what legal path Trump plans to use in order to reverse Biden's directives.
Requests for response from NBC News were not immediately answered by the White House or a spokesman of former President Joe Biden.
One of Biden's last actions as president was to issue the preemptive pardons in January. According to Biden, he took the step to guarantee that his new administration would not retaliate against public personalities who had looked into and criticized Trump while he was in office.
In a text message to NBC News following Biden's pardons in January, Trump claimed that the committee members were guilty of "serious crimes," using the entire word in capital letters.
The panel included former House members Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.; current Representatives Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; and former House member Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Biden also granted preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
