Trump Claims Biden’s Pardons Are Invalid Due to Autopen Signature

March 17, 2025 TruthUSA

The president has signaled that he anticipates legal challenges to his position.

On March 17, President Donald Trump asserted that pardons issued by his predecessor are no longer valid, citing evidence that suggests they were signed using an autopen.

Trump declared the pardons “are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, due to the fact that they were executed by Autopen,” he stated on Truth Social, his social media platform.

He noted that this includes pardons given to former members of the U.S. House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol, warning, “They should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level,” he wrote.

Autopens are devices that allow individuals to sign documents using pre-stored signatures.

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project claimed in a recent report that President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons, which include those for the former January 6 committee members, seemed to have been executed with an autopen.

The foundation pointed out that some pardons dated December 30, 2022, were purportedly signed in Washington while Biden was vacationing in the U.S. Virgin Islands at that time.

After the foundation released its findings, Trump began to address the situation.

Trump commented at a press conference on March 13, stating that Biden “was grossly incompetent.” He questioned, “Who signs important documents by autopen?” he told reporters.

In response to a reporter’s inquiry about the legitimacy of Biden’s pardons aboard Air Force One on March 16, Trump mentioned that the matter would need to be resolved by the court system.

“It’s not my decision; that’ll be for a court to determine,” Trump remarked. “However, I would argue that they’re null and void, as I doubt Biden was aware that it was happening, and that someone was utilizing an autopen to authorize these pardons.”

As of now, no lawsuits have been initiated concerning Trump’s declaration.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates that a president “shall have the Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States,” powers defined by courts as extensive.

However, limitations on this power exist, including the inability to issue pardons for acts committed in the future, as noted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1866 ruling known as Garland.

Courts have affirmed that presidents can grant pardons, even if they lack documentation.

“We readily determine that nothing in the Constitution limits the President’s exercise of the clemency power to documented writings,” an appeals court ruled in 2024.

The court further stated, “A clemency warrant or any form of written documentation is not required for the President to wield this authority as provided by the Constitution. Hypothetically, the President could announce at a press conference in the Rose Garden that he has pardoned a specific individual, and that would be a legitimate act.”

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