A legal expert swiftly rejected a claim by President Donald Trump about pardons issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, being "void" for allegedly using an autopen.
Speaking on CNN, analyst Elie Honig gave a one-word answer when asked if Trump's statement had any legal weight: "No," he said. "Dead on arrival."
"This is a ridiculous sideshow. The key question with the pardon power is what was the president's intent? We've had autopen for decades. No presidential action has ever been invalidated or undone because it was signed by autopen," Honig added.
Trump made the claim on his social media platform, Truth Social, early on Monday, saying that 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."
"In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level," Trump added in the lengthy publication.
Trump also mocked Biden in a social media publication, replacing his portrait for that of an autopen, defined as a device that mechanically reproduces a person's signature.
The claim made headlines after the Heritage Foundation, a pro-Trump think tank, released a report alleging the use of autopen and noting that pardons signed right before leaving office had the same signature. They benefited members of his family and former officials targeted by Trump and Republicans over the past year, among them Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney.
The Guardian noted that court precedents have determined that "it is wholly for the president to decide" the way in which a pardon is issued.
Honig further rejected any possibility that the pardons will be revoked saying that while they are "extremely broad," "there is no such thing as an unpardoned power. This thing feels to me just like a rabbit hole. I wouldn't even pay it that much mind. There's no way this is going to actually happen."
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
