Trump suggests Biden aides acted without then-president’s knowledge — but says he has no evidence

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump alleged Thursday that officials in Joe Biden ‘s administration might have in effect forged their boss’s signature and taken broad actions he wasn’t aware of — while acknowledging he had no evidence that actually happened.

Meeting in the Oval Office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump repeated his long-standing allegations that the Biden White House relied on an autopen to sign presidential pardons, executive orders and other key documents, and said that cast doubt on their validity.

“Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president,” Trump said. “And that is wrong. It’s illegal, it’s so bad and it’s so disrespectful to our country.”

Trump went on to suggest that rogue elements within Biden’s administration were faking his signature and governing without his knowledge, pushing the administration farther to the left than the president himself would have gone.

“He didn’t have much of an idea what was going on,” Trump said.

But pressed by reporters on whether he had evidence of specific items that were signed without Biden’s knowledge, or by others in the administration acting illegally, Trump responded, “No. But I’ve uncovered, you know, the human mind.”

He referenced the disastrous debate performance that forced Biden to abandon his reelection bid last summer and said, “I was in a debate with the human mind and I didn’t think he knew what the hell he was doing.”

Biden, in a statement Wednesday night, rejected any suggestion actions were taken without his knowledge, saying, “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

That came after Trump directed his administration to investigate Biden’s actions as president, alleging aides masked his predecessor’s “cognitive decline” and suggesting that the use of the autopen undermines scores of his actions.

The president directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington to handle the investigation, a significant escalation in Trump’s targeting of political adversaries that could lay the groundwork for arguments by Republicans that a range of Biden’s actions as president were invalid.

The Justice Department under Democratic and Republican administrations has recognized the use of an autopen to sign legislation and issue pardons for decades. Also, the president’s absolute pardon power is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Trump’s intensifying allegations against Biden reflect his fixation with his predecessor, who defeated him in 2020.

Trump never conceded the 2020 election and continues to falsely claim it was rigged against him. Even on Thursday, Trump invoked his allegations about the 2020 election.

Trump frequently suggests that Biden was wrong to use an autopen, a mechanical device that replicates a person’s authentic signature. Trump said Thursday that he himself had used it, including as a way to save time when signing large numbers of letters from young people. Still, he argued that Biden’s use of it constituted “the biggest scandal, maybe in the last hundred years in this country.”

Biden issued pardons for his two brothers and his sister shortly before leaving office in January, hoping to shield them from potential prosecution under Trump, who had promised retribution during last year’s campaign. Other pardon recipients included members of a congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump often suggests that his political opponents should be investigated, and he has directed the Justice Department to look into people who have angered him over the years. They include Chris Krebs, a former cybersecurity official who disputed Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020, and Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who wrote an anonymous op-ed sharply critical of the president in 2018.

Meanwhile, House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, requested transcribed interviews with five Biden aides, alleging they had participated in a “cover-up” that amounted to “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history.”

“These five former senior advisors were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House,” Comer said in a statement. “They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.”

Comer also reiterated his call for Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, and other former senior White House aides to appear before the committee. He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews.

Rep. Brandon Gill, a freshman Republican from Texas, said “the American people didn’t elect a bureaucracy to run the country.” He added, “I think that the American people deserve to know the truth and they want to know the truth of what happened.”

Will Weissert And Chris Megerian, The Associated Press