Former President Joe Biden dismissed the investigation into his competence during his White House tenure as "nothing more than a distraction." Star Shooter/MediaPunch /IPX
Trump Predicts Autopen Will Be ‘One Of The Great Scandals Of All Time’
Former President Joe Biden has called the investigation into his competence to serve during his term in the White House “nothing more than a distraction.”
President Donald Trump directed the White House on Wednesday to probe Biden’s executive actions, including pardons and the alleged use of an autopen for signatures. The inquiry also alleges Biden’s top aides masked his “cognitive decline.”
“Let me be clear: 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,” Biden said in a statement.
“This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”
Trump’s order marks a significant escalation in his targeting of political adversaries and could lay the groundwork for claims that a range of Biden’s actions as president were invalid.
However, the president’s pardon power is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, and Trump has presented no evidence that Biden was unaware of the actions taken in his name.
In a memorandum on Wednesday, Trump ordered his White House counsel, in consultation with the attorney general, to investigate whether “certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”
The memo said the investigation would look into “any activity” to “purposefully shield” the public from information about Biden’s physical and mental health, documents that were signed by autopen, and those who directed the use of it.
Trump has frequently suggested that Biden was wrong to use an autopen, a mechanical device that replicates a person’s authentic signature.
The Justice Department, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has recognized the use of an autopen to sign legislation and issue pardons for decades.
Biden’s age and health were top concerns among voters during his presidency.
While in office, Biden and his aides dismissed concerns about his mental acuity, but he ultimately stepped aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after a disastrous debate against Trump in June last year magnified concerns. He was replaced as the Democratic nominee by former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump.
Last month, Biden’s office announced the former president had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Trump wished Biden well after the cancer diagnosis but has continued to criticize his predecessor and share baseless conspiracy theories about him.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, in the memo: “In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.
“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”
House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Republican who has requested transcribed interviews with Biden’s aides and White House physician, in a statement on Wednesday: “The American people deserve full transparency and the House Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation to provide answers and accountability. The cover-up of President Biden’s mental decline is one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history.”
Comer added that the five former senior advisors “were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House. They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.”
Representative Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, on CNN: “The bottom line is, this is also a distraction. The idea of focusing on President Biden is a way of distracting from Donald Trump’s efforts to completely undermine our democracy, to grift and engage in corruption and to help out his billionaire buddies by cutting their taxes while taking Medicaid away from the American people.
“Joe Biden is not president, Donald Trump is president. And the Oversight Committee and Chairman Comer and the House Republicans generally are doing nothing to rein in Donald Trump’s lawlessness, and instead, we’re focusing on Joe Biden, who’s no longer president.”
What Happens Next
It remains unclear how far Trump will push the effort to investigate Biden, which could face legal challenges. (Newsweek)