Trump launches investigation into whether Biden aides concealed alleged decline

President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into whether aides to former President Joe Biden concealed alleged declines in his mental acuity, including by the use of an automatic pen to sign Biden’s name on official documents.

Trump said in a statement Wednesday that the investigation will look into whether Biden’s aides attempted to “deceive the public” by hiding “serious cognitive decline” from the American people.

“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” he said in a memo, which tasked White House counsel David Warrington with leading the probe in consultation with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Presidents have long used an autopen to sign documents, but Trump has repeatedly raised the issue in recent weeks amid media alleging that Biden’s mental acuity declined toward the end of his term in the White House, which he has denied.

There is no evidence that Biden aides used the autopen to take actions without their boss’ knowledge or that Biden’s purported decline led aides to take actions on his behalf. The Justice Department has long found that use of an autopen is valid, so long as the president is the one making decisions.

Republicans, including Trump, have long highlighted Biden’s mental lapses. But discussions surrounding Biden’s mental state have resurged in recent weeks after revelations that Biden’s aides and many inside the White House were allegedly aware of his diminished capacities and did not intervene, chronicled by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson in their book “Original Sin.”

The investigation could renew focus on the pardons issued by Biden in his waning days in office, which preemptively shielded some of Trump’s political enemies from future prosecution. Biden pardoned former health official Anthony Fauci along with congressional members and staff who investigated the Jan. 6 riot, among others. In December, Biden issued a “full and unconditional” pardon for his son Hunter, who had been prosecuted by the Justice Department and has long been a target of the GOP.

Ed Martin, a Trump appointee at the Justice Department, has already signaled he has been exploring the potential use of the autopen in Biden’s last-minute grants of clemency.

In his statement, Trump said the investigation into his predecessor would target activity from Biden’s aides that would have concealed Biden’s mental or physical decline from the public, any videos that were altered, any alleged false statements on Biden’s capabilities, as well as any statements or memos that he signed during his final years in office.

“The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts,” the memo continued.

A Biden spokesperson declined to comment.

Other presidents — including former President Barack Obama and Trump himself — have used the autopen to sign presidential documents. But Trump has been blasting the autopen for months.

“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 Truth Social on March 17.

The House Oversight Committee has also launched an investigation into Biden’s use of the autopen, requesting interviews with former Biden aides and allies that engaged in the “cover-up,” Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said.

Comer announced Wednesday that Biden’s former physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, will be subpoenaed to testify before the committee. He’s also called for former Biden staff including Ronald Klain and Michael Donilon to appear.