Trump Provides Update on Autopen Scandal: “It’s Just Gotten Worse”

President Donald J. Trump said Thursday the autopen controversy in the Biden White House has deepened, and he accused officials there of using the device without direct orders from President Biden. Trump made the comments during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, pointing to new details that, he said, show the issue is more serious than previously reported. According to a video posted to X, Trump said the revelations are damning.

The dispute over the autopen centers on whether the president himself authorized documents — including a series of last-minute pardons — that appeared with his signature. President Trump argued Thursday that the person who operated the autopen acted under instructions from others, not from Joe Biden directly.

“Yeah, it’s just gotten worse from their standpoint,” Trump said, according to the video.

He expanded on what he described as new facts about who actually issued the directives. “The people that used it, in particular one person, was never told by Biden to do it, only spoke to Biden twice, and that was just talking about the weather, not talking about any order. And he was taking orders from people other than Joe Biden. Joe Biden wasn’t giving those orders,” Trump said.

Trump also used the moment to revisit his critique of Biden’s record and judgment. “You know, Joe Biden didn’t believe in open borders. He didn’t, I’ve known him for a long time. He was never the brightest bulb in the ceiling, as we know. You can go back 40 years ago and you’ll see that, go back and take a look at the hearings on Justice Thomas, and you’ll see that very much,” he said.

The president claimed the autopen’s use was unlawful and tied it to wider failures by the Biden administration. “It’s a shame. The autopen was an illegal, it was illegally used, he never gave the orders, he never told them what to do. And I guess the only one he signed, or one of the few he signed, was the pardon for his son,” Trump said, referring to Hunter Biden.

Turning to other controversies, Mr. Trump accused investigators of destroying relevant records tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, events. “But you had the congressmen who when they got the information, they found out they were guilty, and they deleted and destroyed all information, everything, you couldn’t get any of it. They found out that Nancy Pelosi actually was offered the 10,000 soldiers and she turned them down. They found out many things that were very bad, so they deleted and destroyed all information,” he charged.

He framed the alleged destruction of records as an assault on transparency and accountability. “You talk about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, how about that one? And there’s not a thing. This is after a year and a half of hearings, they destroyed everything, and somebody’s got to be held responsible,” he added.

Trump said the BBC reported that pardons were issued covering members of the House panel and their staff — a development he used to reinforce his contention that the panel’s findings and conduct need scrutiny.

“So Biden, what he did is they knew, I don’t think he knew, but somebody knew, I don’t think Biden had a clue about anything, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “But they gave a pardon to those congresspeople, they gave a pardon. Those people are so guilty. They gave a pardon, but Biden didn’t know about it.”

Pressed to characterize the officials involved, Mr. Trump did not mince words: “I know ’em all, and they’re sick people. They’re smart people, they’re very smart, they’re probably brilliant,” he said. “They’re sick in ideology and they were running the autopen, and it was totally illegal what he did and I hope it’s going to be so adjudged.”