Trump Claims 92% of Biden's Autopen-Signed Documents Terminated, Legal Experts Dispute Authority

Former President Donald Trump recently declared on social media that "ANY document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect." This sweeping statement, posted on Truth Social, aims to invalidate a vast array of official actions taken during the Biden administration, including executive orders and potentially commissions for officials such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) judges. Trump's assertion frames these documents as illegally executed due to alleged unauthorized autopen use, signaling a significant challenge to his predecessor's legacy.

Legal scholars and constitutional experts have widely dismissed the legal viability of such a declaration. A former president does not possess the unilateral authority to void actions or documents from a sitting or previous administration through a social media post. Presidential executive orders typically require a subsequent executive order to be rescinded, and pardons, once issued, are generally considered irreversible.

The use of an autopen for presidential signatures is a long-standing practice in U.S. history, dating back to Thomas Jefferson. The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel affirmed in a 2005 memo that a president does not need to personally affix their signature to a bill or document for it to be legally binding, provided the use of the autopen is authorized by the president. Presidents including Barack Obama and even Trump himself have utilized autopens for various official documents.

Trump's rationale for the termination centers on claims that "the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally" and that "Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process," threatening Biden with perjury charges if he claimed otherwise. Conversely, former President Biden has consistently refuted these allegations, stating, "I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false."

This declaration extends Trump's ongoing efforts to delegitimize the Biden presidency, echoing previous instances where he claimed pardons issued by Biden for Jan. 6 committee members were "void." While Trump's social media pronouncements do not carry the force of law, they underscore a political strategy to challenge the legitimacy of past actions and could signal future attempts to reverse Biden-era policies through formal means if Trump were to return to office.