US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into the health of his predecessor as head of state Joe Biden and the use of a mechanical signature device by his aides to sign documents, a statement released by the White House said.
“For many years, President Biden has suffered from severe cognitive decline“, the document said. As the memo notes, aides could take advantage of this situation and abuse the use of a pen to sign important documents.
“The majority of Biden's executive actions were signed using a mechanical signing device, often referred to as a pen, rather than Biden's hand. This was especially true for decisions made in the second half of his presidency, when his cognitive decline seemed even more apparent to those who worked most closely with him,“ the memo says.
The attorney general will have to investigate who ordered the use of a pen to sign documents, including pardons and memoranda. The investigation will also look into whether anyone tried to hide information about Biden's mental health or to label videos of the former president's cognitive decline as fake.
“In recent months, it has become increasingly clear that former President Biden's associates misused the President's signature by using a pen to cover up Biden's cognitive decline. This conspiracy is one of the most dangerous and disturbing scandals in U.S. history,“ Trump said in the memo.
The investigation should also look into whether any of Biden's aides instructed Biden to make false public statements related to “inflated” intelligence.
Trump previously said that Biden's executive orders pardoning about 2,500 people, including his relatives, were invalid because they were signed automatically without his knowledge. Trump has accused Biden administration officials of treason, claiming that the automatically signed documents facilitated the mass entry of migrants into the United States. Congress said it had identified four White House staffers who allegedly used a pen to sign documents on Biden's behalf.
On June 3, the Justice Department was ordered to investigate Biden's decision to pardon his family members and 37 prisoners whose death sentences were commuted to life in prison in his final days in office. The investigation will examine the former White House chief of staff's competence and determine whether other people could have secretly signed the pardons with a pen.
In January, Biden preemptively pardoned his brothers Francis and James, his wife Sarah, his sister Valerie and her husband John. In December 2024, Biden signed an executive order to pardon his son Hunter, despite repeated public vows not to do so. The latter's pardon related to lawsuits in the states of Delaware and California for tax evasion and gun law violations.