The MAGA community is furious over reports that former President Joe Biden used an autopen—a mechanical device that replicates signatures—to sign several official White House documents during his time in office.
The Oversight Project, an arm of the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, published a report last week claiming that Biden used an “autopen signature” across almost “every document we could find.”
For the organization, Biden’s use of the autopen to sign official documents would cast doubt over the former president’s ability to lead the country. “WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY,” the Oversight Project wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Newsweek reached out to the Heritage Foundation via email for comment on Monday.
Why It Matters
Biden’s final years in office and his run for reelection were marred by concerns over his age and mental acuity, exacerbated by his penchant for gaffes, stumbles, and missteps and several public episodes where the former president appeared frail and confused.
After reassuring voters that he was in perfect physical and mental form to beat Donald Trump and take on four more years in the White House, Biden eventually bowed to pressure from fellow Democrats and withdrew from the race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
After Trump’s triumph in November, several reports pointed the finger at Biden’s aides for trying to conceal the severity of the situation.
Former President Joe Biden arrives at Joint Base Andrews after Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. Former President Joe Biden arrives at Joint Base Andrews after Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. Samuel Corum/Getty Images
What To Know
The Oversight Project did not share many details on its alleged investigation, including the number of documents reviewed, but wrote on X: “We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency.”
It added, sharing three documents signed by the former president: “All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year. Here is the autopen signature.”
Two of the documents were executive orders signed by Biden in August 2022 and December 2024, while the third was a screenshot of the letter the former president shared to announce his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race. The two executive orders appear to have the same signature, while the third has another.
The Oversight Project suggested that Biden might not have signed these documents, alluding to a shadowy presence behind the former president.
“For investigators to determine whether then-President Biden actually ordered the signature of relevant legal documents, or if he even had the mental capacity to, they must first determine who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place,” it wrote on X.
Trump has reportedly used the autopen extensively during both his first and second mandates. According to an analysis by the Daily Mail, 25 of Trump’s signatures on the Federal Register’s website from both presidential terms had the same signature.
Barack Obama is the first president to have used the autopen to sign an executive order.
What People Are Saying
MAGA influencer Johnny Midnight wrote on X: “Wow! So we don’t know who really signed Executive Order[s], Pardons or anything else in the Whitehouse! In a Court of Law it would be shot down…This is criminal. The Biden ‘presidency’ didn’t have a real president. People should go to jail for this.”
MAGA influencer Phillip Buchanan, also known as Catturd, wrote on X: “Null and void.”
Right-wing political commentator Rogan O’Handley, known as DC Draino, wrote on X: “There is nobody who wants to move past this Joe Biden autopen scandal than Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Gen Milley. If courts start to rule Biden’s signatures are invalid, then those federal pardons go out the window.”
What Happens Next
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called for the Justice Department to investigate whether Biden’s “cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval.”
If that was the case, “these executive orders, pardons, and all other actions are unconstitutional and legally void,” Bailey wrote on X.
