Trump claims Biden's pardons for Jan. 6 committee are 'void' because he used an autopen
President Donald Trump claimed without evidence early Monday that his predecessor’s pardons for members of the House select committee that investigated the Jan.
President Donald Trump claimed without evidence early Monday that his predecessor’s pardons for members of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol are invalid because then-President Joe Biden didn’t use a real pen.
“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 wrote on his Truth Social online platform.
Trump went on to allege that Biden didn’t know about the pardons or approve them, and that therefore all the committee members would be “subject to investigation at the highest level.”
However, the U.S. Constitution makes clear the president has unique executive powers to issue pardons and makes no provision for subsequent presidents to rescind them — for issues relating to the choice of pen or anything else.
From left, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol during a hearing on Oct. 13, 2022.Drew Angerer / Getty Images fileBiden and President Barack Obama both used an autopen device to sign official documents, a practice which is legally binding, according to 2005 guidance from the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, commissioned by President George W. Bush.
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