AutoPen Signatures Raise Questions about Biden Pardons, Other Actions

What did Biden sign, and did he know what he was signing?

An investigation by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has raised serious questions about the validity of a number of Executive Actions during the Biden administration.

On Thursday, March 6, the Oversight Project posted to their X (formerly Twitter) account @OversightPR that:

“We gathered every document we could find with Biden's signature over the course of his presidency.

”All used the same autopen signature except for the the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year.  Here is the autopen signature.”

“Here is the signature from the letter announcing Biden was dropping out of the rac” (sic):

“Recall that former President Biden admitted to Speaker Johnson that he did not remember signing an executive order pausing LNG exports.

“So, who signed it?

”For investigators to determine whether then-President Biden actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents, or if he even had the mental capacity to, they must first determine who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place. Given President Biden's decision to revoke Executive Privilege for individuals advising Trump during his first Presidency, this is a knowable fact that can be determined with the correct legal process?”

This was followed by another post on Monday, March 10th, which called into question a series of pardons “signed” in Washington by President Biden—while he was vacationing in the Virgin Islands:

“Biden Autopen Pardons on VACATION?

‘Who is behind this autopen on 12/30/2022 that pardoned six criminals (with the exact same autopen signature) while Joe Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands?

‘Note they all say they are "Signed in the City of Washington"

“Our autopen investigation continues…”

Finally, in a third post Tuesday 3/11, they examined the signatures on the pardons issued on Biden’s last day in office, January 19th:

“Autopen Update 

“We analyzed Biden's Jan. 19, 2025 "pardons" for:

-Biden Family Members

-Anthony Fauci

-General Milley

-J6 Committee

-Gerald Lundergan

“They all have the same exact Biden autopen signature”

The initial post came two days after a March 4 letter from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz asking him to “conduct a full investigation into President Biden‘s middle capacity in his final days in office.”

An autopen is a machine that uses a pen to generate a pre-programmed signature, and they have been used in the White House for decades. Typically it is used for Christmas cards and other informal documents. Since 2005, an autopen has been used to ‘sign’ official documents while the President was away from the White House, but as in other organizations, each such use typically will be linked with documents authorizing its use by the President. To date, no such authorizing documents have been presented for any of the documents studied by the Oversight Project.

Some legal experts have raised the possibility that documents signed without the appropriate permissions from the President are invalid, and might be considered to be forgeries. It’s also been generally accepted that significant documents such as pardons and Executive Orders are given a “wet signature”—personally signed by the President.

Given the significant evidence of the former President's cognitive decline and active efforts by his staff and the media to conceal the degree of impairment, a number of people have echoed the call for an investigation similar to that made by AG Bailey, to answer the question “who was the President?”

The Oversight Project‘s investigation is ongoing, and future reports are expected to include analyses by handwriting and other experts.