US President Donald Trump posted a long message on Truth Social on Friday, saying he is cancelling all executive orders and any other documents that were not personally signed by Joe Biden. The announcement comes shortly after the US government said it will reexamine every green card issued to people from 19 “countries of concern,” following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC.
Trump argued that many documents from Biden’s presidency were signed using an autopen, a tool that automatically places the president’s signature on papers. Trump claimed that about 92% of Biden’s documents were signed this way, though he did not explain how he reached that number. “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social post.
Trump says he’s cancelling Biden’s orders
According to Trump, anything signed with the autopen “has no force or effect,” because he believes the machine was used improperly. In his post, Trump said that the autopen cannot be used unless the president gives direct approval. He then claimed that Biden “was not involved in the autopen process.” He even warned that if Biden says he was involved, he would be charged with perjury, which means lying under oath.
Trump also wrote that Biden’s aides “took the presidency away from him” by using the autopen, and repeated that he is cancelling any order that wasn’t signed by “Crooked Joe Biden” himself.
“The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him. I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally. Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump posted on his Truth Social.
Can Trump really cancel Biden’s executive orders?
Trump can try to cancel past presidents’ executive orders. Presidents can legally undo many executive orders from their predecessors. That means he could try to revoke Biden’s orders or most of the pardons and commutations Biden signed. But legal experts say there is a big limit: clemency, pardons and commutations cannot easily be taken back after they are given.
Earlier this year, when Trump raised the autopen question, conservative legal scholar John Yoo told CNN that Trump was likely “just having fun at Biden’s expense,” suggesting the claims weren’t serious. Still, Trump ordered an investigation into Biden’s autopen use, raising concerns about Biden’s mental sharpness.
But the law doesn’t support Trump’s argument. In 2005, the Justice Department, during President George W. Bush’s administration, reviewed whether a president could legally sign bills using the autopen. It concluded that the president does not need to physically sign a bill for it to be valid.
And it’s not just recent legal opinions. A 1929 memo from the US solicitor general also said the Constitution does not require any special method for signing pardons.
One congressional investigation did raise the question of whether Biden personally approved every pardon or commutation. But there was no direct evidence that anyone other than Biden made the decisions. Staff members carried out his instructions, sometimes using the autopen.
Biden denies using autopen
Former US President Joe Biden has repeatedly denied accusations that he didn’t make his own decisions while in office. He has said there was no cover-up and has called the Republicans making these claims “liars.” In July, Biden told the New York Times that he had verbally approved the pardons and commutations at the end of his term.
This is not the first time Trump has targeted Biden’s use of the autopen. A few months back, he mocked the autopen use in the White House, replacing Biden’s photo with the machine, and then in March, Trump claimed that Biden’s reliance on the tool meant he wasn’t fully running the government, calling those actions “null and void.”