November 28, 2025
President Trump just posted this to his social media page saying “any document signed by sleepy Joe Biden with the autopen which is approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated and of no further force of effect. The autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the president of the United States.”
He then goes on to claim that it was actually Biden’s staff who used the auto pen to sign executive orders, memos, pardons and presidential documents. Which trump says is illegal. Trump went on to say that even if President Biden defends himself by saying he was involved in the use of the autopen Trump believes that’s a lie and he says Biden would be brough up on charges of perjury.
Ok – there’s a lot in there we need to talk about it.
First – something like this would probably have to be written in some kind of executive order…president Trump probably can’t just declare it so on his social media page. Now – that doesn’t mean he can’t do this. He probably can especially when it comes to certain things. Every president has the right to end the policies of the previous president that were not passed into law passed by congress. So President Trump has every right to sign an executive order saying President Biden’s executive orders, memos and policies are over — we actually saw trump do this on his first day in office. He canceled dozens of Biden’s orders, memos and policies by signing one executive order.
But there is one category that president trump probably can’t touch whether President Biden used the autopen or not…and that is – on pardons. Pardons are an explicit and unchecked power that the United States constitution gives the president of the United States. They cannot be undone even if the next president doesn’t like it.
Now there are still a lot of questions about all of this….like – where did President Trump get this idea that President Biden used the autopen 92% of the time? We have no idea. The other thing you have to know is there is nothing wrong or illegal about presidents using the autopen. The auto pen is generally used when a president is away from the White House and cannot physically be there to sign a legal document. There’s actually a 2005 legal opinion from President Geroge W Bush’s Department of Justice saying that presidents can absolutely use the autopen as long as they are the ones directing their subordinates to use it on their behalf. And every president since then has use it. President Bush did, President Obama did, obviously President Biden did and President Trump himself has used the autopen a lot too…especially during his first term.
Now – there’s one caveat to all of this….which trump is laser focused on. As I said according to that 2005 DOJ memo – while the president can use the auto pen – he has to be aware that his staff is using it and direct then to do so. Right? They obviously can’t use it whenever they feel like it to executive documents, executive orders and pardons. President Trump has said – without any proof or evidence – that he believes President Biden didn’t know his staff was using the auto pen and therefore Trump believes that Biden’s staff were the ones who were actually the ones approving policies, executive orders and even pardons. When trump brought all this up over the summer Biden defended his use of the autopen calling trump and any republican who says he didn’t know what was being signed a “liar” and then went on to say “I made every decision.”
Today – President Trump said that if President Biden said that again he would be brought up on perjury charges…because – of course – Trump thinks what Biden is saying is not true. I’m not sure how Trump thinks he can roll up another president on perjury charges. That’s a whole different ball of wax.
Remember – Trump can undo executive orders, memos and policies whenever he wants whether an autopen was used or not. But when it comes to the use of an autopen for pardons – specifically if Trump can somehow prove in a court of law – not in the court of public opinion — that – President Biden was unaware of his staff signing off on pardons or clemency – then maybe those can be undone but that’s completely uncharted territory and again trump has so far not provided any proof or evidence of it. And in a court of law you need proof and evidence…not just feelings.
Read Trump’s post here.
