Trump says Biden’s autopen pardons are ‘void, vacant and of no further force or effect,’ vows probe of Jan. 6 House select committee
President Trump said early Monday that he was voiding all the last-minute pardons former President Joe Biden made using autopen.
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump posted on Truth Social early Monday morning.
“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” he said of the oldest-ever president and concerns at his age-related mental abilities at 82.
The 47th president also alleged that the pardons were not “approved” by his predecessor.
“The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden,” he wrote. “He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.”
Trump also warned that members of the former Jan. 6 House select committee who Biden issued pardons would be “subject to investigation at the highest level.”
“Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level,” Trump wrote Monday.
“The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”
Biden preemptively pardons all nine members of the Jan. 6 Committee, including the two leaders — Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and then-Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who later pledged to vote for then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2025 election,
On the last day of his presidency, Biden issued a string of 11th-hour pardons, including preemptive pardons to Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Milley has publicly called Trump a “wannabe dictator” and detailed his conduct around the deadly Jan. 6 attacks during the House investigation.
Meanwhile, Fauci, who served as Biden’s chief medical advisor until his retirement in 2022, drew ire when he repeatedly dismissed the theory that the COVID-19 virus most likely leaked from a Chinese lab.
Trump and other Republicans have accused the 84-year-old doctor of lying to Congress on key aspects of his response to the pandemic.
Fauci denied to Congress that, when he was the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the government funneled money to EcoHealth Alliance for gain-of-function research.
However, federal watchdog and congressional investigations found evidence of federal dollars going toward risky gain-of-function research at China’s now-infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Trump was outraged after Biden issued the preemptive pardons, blasting the move as “disgraceful” and saying, “Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES!”
It’s unclear whether any court will take steps to void Biden’s pardons over the autopen claims.
Last week, Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey suggested that dozens of executive orders signed by former President Biden were authorized with identical autopen signatures, and “if true, these executive orders, pardons, and all other actions are unconstitutional and legally void.”
“I am demanding the DOJ investigate whether President Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval,” Bailey said.
