The House Oversight Committee asked Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday to open a review into every executive action taken during former President Joe Biden’s administration, arguing that many may have been carried out without his direct authorization as his cognitive health declined.
In a referral letter dated Tuesday, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) urged the Justice Department to determine whether all official acts between 2021 and Jan. 19 “were duly authorized by the President of the United States.” The request comes the same day Republicans released their 90-page report, “The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House.“
The report alleges that Biden’s aides used a mechanical autopen to sign executive orders, clemency warrants, and other documents without confirming his consent, and that the DOJ should seek more documentation to ensure the former president properly assented to the actions taken in his name.
“Barring documentation establishing a record of President Biden’s decision-making, the Committee deems void President Biden’s executive actions that were signed using the autopen,” Comer wrote.
Comer asks DOJ to verify Biden’s authorization
Although the target of the committee is executive actions signed via autopen, the request made of the DOJ is broad and sweeping. The letter specifically directs Bondi to review “all” executive actions from the Biden presidency to ensure they were properly authorized, including possible national security or military matters. Comer also requested that DOJ examine the actions of three senior aides, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Annie Tomasini, and Anthony Bernal, who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights during the committee’s investigation.
Republicans argue that Biden’s unelected staff “worked recklessly and concertedly to hide the president’s condition from the public,” thereby assuming presidential authority in violation of constitutional limits. Comer said the review is necessary to determine whether the actions of those aides “constitute criminal activity” under federal law, though it is not a direct criminal referral by the committee.
Clemency and the question of presidential consent
Among the most serious allegations in the Oversight report is that 32 of 51 pardons and commutations issued in Biden’s final days were signed by autopen with no written proof of his consent. The report cites testimony that then–chief of staff Jeff Zients verbally approved the use of the autopen through an aide using his email account with his permission, a convoluted setup on its own, and without knowing who actually used the autopen to apply the president’s signature.
“In light of the former president’s cognitive deterioration and the cover-up from his inner circle, this ‘approval’ process calls into question the validity of all pardons reportedly granted by President Biden throughout his tenure,” the report states, noting that either proper documentation should be presented by Biden or all executive action signed by autopen should be “void.”
BIDEN’S CHIEF OF STAFF GAVE MOST DAMNING TESTIMONY YET IN AUTOPEN PROBE
Reaction and next steps
Democrats on the committee have long dismissed the Republican-led committee’s investigation into the former president as a partisan stunt lacking evidentiary support. Biden has repeatedly rejected claims that he was uninvolved in his administration’s policymaking, calling the allegations “ridiculous and false.”
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment on whether it intends to act on Comer’s request.