Camilla Jessen
White House calls autopen controversy a “non-story”
After months of criticism directed at Joe Biden for allegedly relying too heavily on autopen, President Donald Trump is now facing claims from document specialists that his own latest pardons were signed using the device.
The Justice Department has already replaced several of the documents online, calling the issue a “technical error.”
But the controversy has highlighted a striking contradiction between Trump’s public attacks and his own presidential paperwork.
Rising accusations
Trump has repeatedly mocked Biden’s age and health, often suggesting the president was not physically capable of signing routine documents.
Autopen use became one of his favourite talking points.
He even argued that any pardon involving an autopen should be voided.
At one point, when unveiling the so-called “Presidential Walk of Fame,” he replaced Biden’s portrait with an autopen machine to ridicule him.
Republican lawmakers picked up the theme.
The House Oversight Committee pressed the attorney general for an investigation, complaining that autopen procedures under Biden were poorly controlled.
“The Committee deems void all executive actions signed by the autopen without proper… written approval traceable to the president’s own consent,” the panel wrote.
New pardons spark scrutiny
But autopen use is not new to the presidency.
According to two forensic document experts cited by the Associated Press, Trump appears to have used it himself.
The identical signatures appeared on pardons issued on November 7, including those granted to Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and former NYPD sergeant Michael McMahon.
The signatures posted on the Justice Department website were carbon copies of one another, the experts said.
Shortly after the issue was raised, the Justice Department replaced the files. A spokesperson described the problem as a posting error caused by staffing shortages during the government shutdown.
“The website was updated after a technical error,” DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told the Associated Press, insisting Trump had personally signed all seven pardons.
Sources: The Guardian; Associated Press; Newsner
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, who may have used AI in the preparation
