Trump claimed Biden failed to give consent for preemptive pardons issued to the nine House select committee members that investigated the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 along with “many others” granted clemency on the former president’s last full day in office on January 19. “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 Auto pen,” Trump wrote.
“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.” Presidents can issue pardons (removing a punishment after a court decision) and commutations (a reduction in punishment for a crime) as they see fit for federal convictions, but not for state crimes. Trump, who himself granted clemency to more than 1,500 January 6 criminals in January, warned that the members of the House select committee are no longer shielded by presidential pardons and should expect to be investigated, despite not being charged with any crimes.
“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,” he continued. “The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!”
Earlier on Sunday evening, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the decision on whether the pardons would stand would be up to a court. He again stated, without evidence, that Biden “didn’t have any idea” that the pardons were being signed off. The president also trolled Biden in another Truth Social post with a meme replacing his official portrait with an auto pen mimicking his signature.
In a post on Saturday, he wrote: “The person who was the real President during the Biden years was the person who controlled the Auto pen!” Trump appeared to seize on reports from the Oversight Project, a self-described investigative arm of the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation. Last week, the group challenged the legitimacy of the orders signed by Biden claiming that an “autopen signature” was used across almost “every document” it could find. However, a Fox News examination of President Donald Trump’s executive orders during his first and second administrations found “the signatures were also the same.” Twenty-five of Trump's signatures on the Federal Register’s website from across both terms also found signature matched, according to a separate analysis by the Daily Mail.
Trump’s comments open up the possibility that the Justice Department may attempt to prosecute some of the president’s biggest political targets who had been granted clemency by Biden, upending more than a century of law surrounding presidential pardons. They include retired disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley, and former Representative Liz Cheney – all also pardoned on the last day of Biden’s presidency after Trump threatened their prosecution on the campaign trail.
The former president also preemptively pardoned five members of his family who had long been the target of attacks from Trump. In December, Biden pardoned his second son, Hunter Biden, and said he had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” Marcus Garvey, the founder of the Black nationalist movement in the U.S. was granted a posthumous pardon while four other activists and public servants also received clemency on the last day of the Biden administration. On January 17, Biden also commuted the sentences for nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.
