Trump Admin Supports DOJ Investigation Into Biden’s Alleged Autopen Abuse: “Who Was Running the Country?”
The Trump administration has officially welcomed a Department of Justice investigation into allegations that former President Joe Biden used an autopen to issue pardons and commutations—some reportedly involving family members and convicted criminals—during his final days in office.
President Donald J. Trump’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, announced the inquiry this week, citing serious concerns about Biden’s mental competence and whether unelected officials used Biden’s name to carry out executive actions without his knowledge or presence.
“The president is making a good point when he discusses the usage of the autopen,”
— White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, via the Washington Examiner
“Who was running the country for the past four years?”
Leavitt dismissed media complaints that the investigation is merely partisan or backward-looking, emphasizing that this very issue helped propel Trump’s return to the White House.
“It’s still, nevertheless, is a very important issue, and it was a huge issue that sent the president back to this White House,” Leavitt said.
“Americans saw with their own eyes a mentally incompetent president, and they want answers for that, and the president believes they should have them.”
According to Reuters, Martin has begun digging into Biden’s use of clemency powers, including commutations of 37 death sentences to life imprisonment and pardons that allegedly included members of his own family.
Martin also noted that Biden’s physical location during the signing of key clemency orders remains unclear, raising questions about why an autopen would be needed if Biden was actually in the White House.
“The investigation would try to reveal whether Biden ‘was competent and whether others were taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means,’”
— Ed Martin, as reported by Reuters
The probe takes on added weight following the explosive book Original Sin by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, which documents Biden’s mental decline and the covert efforts by staff to shield him from public scrutiny.
Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate are also launching parallel inquiries into Biden’s alleged use of the autopen for serious executive actions—an unprecedented move that, if proven, could constitute a constitutional crisis.
While autopens have occasionally been used by previous presidents for ceremonial gestures, such as holiday letters or honorary proclamations, President Trump and his allies insist that Biden’s staff exploited the tool during moments of high consequence, including clemency decisions.
Martin revealed on the show 2WAY Tonight with Mark Halperin that a whistleblower—a “senior Democrat”—came forward just days ago, alleging that a select group of top Biden advisers were acting as gatekeepers to executive authority and personally profiting from the process.
“I had a whistleblower in my office 10 days ago — senior, senior Democrat — saying, ‘Look, it was these three people that controlled access, and they were making money off of it,’”
— Ed Martin
While Martin admitted the claims are still under investigation, he insisted that the American people deserve full transparency.
The alleged gatekeepers named by the whistleblower:
- Ron Klain, former White House Chief of Staff (2021–2023), who returned during Biden’s re-election campaign
- Anita Dunn, senior Biden adviser
- Robert Bauer, former personal attorney to Barack Obama
Martin confirmed the probe is well underway, with legal teams mobilizing, witnesses identified, and Biden family members contacted. The stakes are high: this investigation could expose one of the most profound abuses of executive power in modern American history.