Trump cancels all Biden autopen orders, citing illegality of signatures
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of all documents signed by former President Joe Biden with an autopen, declaring such orders “terminated and of no further force or effect,” reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
The declaration was published on Truth Social, where the president argued that “the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.”
According to the American Presidency Project, Biden issued 162 executive orders while in office. It remains unclear how many of them were signed mechanically. Revoking his predecessor’s directives is a common practice, and the current administration has already rescinded nearly 70 orders on January 20, the day of President Trump’s second inauguration, followed by another 19 on March 14.
The announcement follows an earlier directive by President Trump ordering an investigation into the Biden administration’s use of the autopen. At the time, he alleged a “conspiracy” to misuse presidential signatures to “conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.”
In a July statement, Biden rejected the accusations, calling them “nothing more than distraction.” He insisted, “I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations.”
A report released by House Republicans last month criticized the use of the device but did not present evidence of directives being signed without Biden’s awareness. The autopen has been used by several administrations, and a 2005 Justice Department opinion under President George W. Bush confirmed its legal use. President Trump has acknowledged employing the device himself, but “only for very unimportant papers.”
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the Trump administration is preparing to expand its current travel restrictions to include about 30 countries, following the fatal shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington last week.