Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides [View all]

Source: New York Times

Trump Orders Investigation of Biden and His Aides

The executive order is the latest effort by President Trump to stoke outlandish conspiracy theories about his predecessor and question the legality of his actions in office.


President Trump ordered an investigation into whether aides to former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. enacted policies without his knowledge. Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times

By Chris Cameron
https://www.nytimes.com/by/chris-cameron
Reporting from Washington
June 4, 2025

President Trump ordered his White House counsel and the attorney general on Wednesday to investigate former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his staff in Mr. Trump's latest attempt to stoke outlandish conspiracy theories about his predecessor. ... In an executive order, Mr. Trump put the power and resources of the federal government to work examining whether some of Mr. Biden's presidential actions were legally invalid because his aides had enacted those policies without his knowledge.

The executive order came after Mr. Trump shared a social media post over the weekend that claimed Mr. Biden had been "executed in 2020" and replaced by a robotic clone, following a pattern of suggestions by the president and his allies that Mr. Biden was a mentally incapacitated puppet of his aides. ... The former president called such claims "ridiculous and false" in a statement on Wednesday after the order's release. ... "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," he said. "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations."

The order comes after disclosure in recent weeks that Mr. Biden, 82, had received a diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer and in the wake of renewed scrutiny of his health during his presidency. ... Since his return to office, Mr. Trump has embarked on a campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies, with Mr. Biden as a key target. He has moved to strip Mr. Biden's security clearance and ordered investigations into the Biden administration's handling of a range of issues.

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A central claim of the conspiracy theory, as described by Mr. Trump himself, is that Mr. Biden's use of the autopen system -- which reproduces a person's signature to be affixed to official documents -- can legally invalidate those documents. ... Mr. Trump has claimed, for example, that some pardons Mr. Biden had made during his time in office were invalid because they were signed using an autopen. (There is no power in the Constitution or case law to undo a pardon.) ... Mr. Trump has acknowledged that his administration uses the autopen system on occasion. But his executive order asserts without evidence that the Biden administration's own use of the system may have "implications for the legality and validity" of some of Mr. Biden's actions as president.

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Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/chris-cameron

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/us/politics/trump-biden-investigation.html

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Hat tip, the Associated Press, via WTOP

https://wtop.com/government/2025/06/house-oversight-committee-expands-inquiry-into-bidens-mental-condition-and-final-acts-in-office/

Trump orders investigation into Biden's actions as president, ratcheting up targeting of predecessor
The Associated Press
June 4, 2025, 11:37 PM

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__________

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/reviewing-certain-presidential-actions/

PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS
Reviewing Certain Presidential Actions
Presidential Memoranda
June 4, 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT: Reviewing Certain Presidential Actions
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby directed:
Section 1. Background. The President of the United States, as the unitary head of the executive branch, holds tremendous power and responsibility through his signature: words on paper can become the law of the land, individuals are appointed to some of the highest offices in Government, national policies can be created or eliminated, and prisoners can go free. In sum, the Nation is governed through Presidential signatures.
In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority. This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. 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.
For years, President Biden suffered from serious cognitive decline. The Department of Justice, for example, concluded that, despite clear evidence that Biden had broken the law, he should not stand trial owing to his incompetent mental state. Biden’s cognitive issues and apparent mental decline during his Presidency were even “worse” in private, and those closest to him “tried to hide it” from the public. To do so, Biden’s advisors during his years in office severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.
Notwithstanding these well-documented issues, the White House issued over 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench, and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in United States history. For instance, just 2 days before Christmas in 2024, the White House announced that Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and monstrous criminals on Federal death row, including several child killers and mass murderers.
Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the President, there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name.
The vast majority of Biden’s executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen, as opposed to Biden’s own hand. This was especially true of actions taken during the second half of his Presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him.
Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity, while taking radical executive actions all in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the Presidency, a circumstance that would have implications for the legality and validity of numerous executive actions undertaken in Biden’s name.
Sec. 2. Investigation. (a) The Counsel to the President, in consultation with the Attorney General and the head of any other relevant executive department or agency (agency), shall investigate, to the extent permitted by law, whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President. This investigation shall address:

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