Donald Trump’s legal team has launched an investigation into whether Joe Biden was mentally fit to issue presidential pardons in the final days of his administration, amid claims that an autopen may have been used to authorise key documents.
The probe, confirmed by Trump’s pardon attorney Ed Martin, will scrutinise clemency granted to 37 death row inmates as well as pardons issued to several members of Biden’s own family, including his son, Hunter.
Speaking to reporters, Martin said the investigation would explore whether the president was “competent” at the time and whether “others were taking advantage of him through use of autopen or other means.”
An autopen is a device that replicates a signature mechanically and is sometimes used for official documents when the principal is unavailable.
Trump and his allies have claimed that Biden’s use of the device could call the validity of his final acts as president into question. One unnamed Trump aide alleged the president “knew nothing” about several pardons, calling them potentially “void and vacant”.
It remains unconfirmed whether the autopen was used to sign the documents.
Among the controversial pardons was that of Hunter Biden, who had been facing up to 25 years in prison over tax violations and illegal firearm possession. He was pardoned on December 1, weeks before Biden left office.
In a final round of clemency, Biden also pardoned his three siblings – James, Frank, and Valerie Biden – along with two of their spouses. The move, according to a White House statement at the time, was to shield family members from what it called “politically motivated prosecutions”.
Martin’s team has yet to disclose who commissioned the probe or which family pardons are under specific review.
Biden also commuted the sentences of 37 death-row inmates, reducing them to life imprisonment. His administration said the move reflected a broader effort to reform capital punishment in the U.S.
While the U.S. Constitution grants presidents broad power to issue pardons, questions have been raised by Republicans about whether Biden was mentally capable of exercising that power toward the end of his presidency.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey formally requested a Justice Department investigation earlier this year, citing what he described as “Biden’s mental decline”.
Bailey claimed there was reason to believe that White House staff may have “exploited Biden’s incapacity” – a claim dismissed by Democratic allies as politically motivated.
Biden’s health has been under growing scrutiny since the White House confirmed last month that he had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The Trump campaign has sought to contrast Biden’s final presidential acts with Trump’s use of clemency powers, including his controversial pardons for hundreds of January 6 rioters.
Despite the controversy, Martin said he believes the pardon power is absolute, or “plenary”, under the Constitution – and that the use of an autopen, by itself, “may not necessarily be a problem”.
