Rep. James Comer (R-KY) predicted that if the House Oversight Committee investigation proves that then-President Joe Biden didn’t know about his executive orders being signed by autopen, they will be “thrown out in court.”
Five former Biden aides are at the center of the committee’s investigation into the former president’s use of an autopen, a machine that allows anyone to duplicate the president’s signature with their authorization. The committee seeks to determine whether Biden knew about and had the cognitive ability to authorize the machine’s use or whether these aides were taking orders from someone else.
“When you talk about using the autopen to sign these executive orders, these executive orders were meant to Trump-proof this White House,” Comer said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures. “And if we can find information that would lead us to believe that Joe Biden had no knowledge of those executive orders being signed in his name, then I think that the Trump administration could get them thrown out in court, and then Trump would be able to execute his agenda a whole lot easier without all the Trump-proofing that happened with the autopen at the end of the Biden administration.”
As Oversight Committee Chairman, Comer promised that an update on the investigation will be announced in the coming days.
Comer suggested he might subpoena Biden, former first lady Jill Biden, and former chief of staff Ron Klain as part of the investigation after the committee has heard from the aides. According to Comer, each of the aides has hired legal counsel, who is in communication with the committee.
A large share of Biden’s final executive orders included record-breaking pardons Biden issued during his final days in office. Biden set a record in presidential pardons, commutations, and clemencies for over 4,200 people.