Washington — President Trump asserted late Sunday that the preemptive pardons issued by former President Joe Biden to members of the House select committee that looked into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are “void” and “vacant” because they were purportedly signed using an autopen.
Nevertheless, the Justice Department stated two decades ago that the president can indeed utilize an autopen for signing legislation, and the Constitution places minimal constraints on the president’s pardon authority.
In a post on Truth Social shortly after midnight, Mr. Trump claimed without evidence that Biden himself did not personally sign the pardons he extended to members of the January 6 select committee, as well as to staff and officers from the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police who provided testimony before the panel.
Biden issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for any acts related to the committee’s activities on January 19, the day before he exited the White House. Other individuals granted preemptive pardons included Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and several family members of Biden.
What did Trump say regarding Biden’s pardons?
Mr. Trump claimed that the pardons his predecessor granted to the select committee members are “hereby declared void, vacant, and of no further force or effect, due to the fact that they were done by Autopen.” He stated that Biden did not personally sign the pardons and “knew nothing about them,” although Mr. Trump did not provide any evidence regarding the process behind Biden’s clemency decision.
He warned that the select committee members “should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.”
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The pardons were issued to the House members who served on the panel, in reaction to Mr. Trump’s threats during his campaign to target them if he was re-elected for a second term. He accused past and present lawmakers of destroying evidence and committing a “major crime” during their investigation, and told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in December that “everyone” involved with the committee “should go to jail.”
Last July, Mr. Trump shared a social media post alleging that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who was the committee’s vice chair, was “guilty of treason” and advocated for “televised military tribunals.”
The most recent message from the president posted to Truth Social implies that his administration may pursue investigations against Cheney and the others who served alongside her on the January 6 committee.
What is an autopen signature?
Patented in the early 1800s and utilized by Thomas Jefferson, the autopen is a device designed to replicate handwritten signatures.
For decades, presidents have employed autopen to sign documents and correspondence. As reported by Smithsonian Magazine, Harry Truman was the first president to make use of an autopen, and it was reportedly frequently used by President John F. Kennedy. However, Barack Obama became the first president to employ an autopen for legislation when he authorized its use to sign an extension of the Patriot Act while in France in May 2011.
In 2005, President George W. Bush’s administration addressed the legality of using an autopen for signing legislation; the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that “the president need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign for the bill to become law.”
“Rather, the president may sign a bill within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the president’s signature to such a bill, for instance, through an autopen,” then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General Howard Nielson, Jr. stated in an opinion for the White House counsel.
Regarding pardon authority, the Constitution grants the president exclusive power to confer clemency, with very few limitations. Additionally, in 2024, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit found that pardons or commutations do not necessarily need to be issued in written form.
“We readily determine that nothing in the Constitution restricts the president’s exercise of the clemency power to commutations that have been rendered through a documented writing,” noted the unanimous 4th Circuit panel.
While the court concluded that a written document “will generally be the means of proving to a third party that the act has occurred,” it emphasized that “a clemency warrant or, indeed, any writing, is not required for the president to exercise this authority under the Constitution.”
The case that came before the 4th Circuit also involved Mr. Trump and claims raised by James Rosemond, who is serving life sentences for multiple offenses related to drug trafficking and a murder. Rosemond argued that Mr. Trump told two supporters, former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown and his wife, in a December 2020 phone call that his sentence had been commuted.
However, Rosemond was not one of those who received written clemency warrants during Mr. Trump’s first term, and his petition was categorized as “pending” after the president left the White House in January 2021.
The judges who issued the ruling include Steven Agee, appointed by Bush, Stephanie Thacker, nominated by Obama, and Allison Jones Rushing, nominated by Mr. Trump.
