Senate Republicans echo Trump allegations on Biden autopen use

Ryan Tarinelli, CQ-Roll Call on Jun 18, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee used a hearing Wednesday to air questions about the use of the autopen in the Biden administration, a topic the Trump administration has pursued this month.

Conservative lawmakers at the hearing, titled “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution,” slammed what they saw as an effort to hide former President Joe Biden’s mental capacity from the public, casting doubt on the extent he was in charge.

President Donald Trump earlier this month ordered a probe into possible malfeasance in the Biden administration related to the former president’s health, in a memo that questions Biden’s use of an autopen, including for signing policy documents and pardons.

That memo ordered an investigation into “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.”

The Senate hearing did not feature testimony from key Biden administration officials, and there has been no proof of misuse of the autopen.

But senators and witnesses zeroed in on the processes a president and his aides should use with an autopen to maintain validity of documents signed by the president using a mechanical signing device, which has been well established over multiple administrations.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said there’s nothing inherently wrong with using an autopen, as long as a public official is the one making the decisions.

But Schmitt said the Biden administration was the “autopen presidency — a government run by committee rather than a leader chosen by the American people.”

“We cannot confidently say that the decisions bearing his signature were the will of the president,” Schmitt said of Biden.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called on Biden and his staff to release documents proving that he gave his approval for certain actions.

“If what you did is legal, and if you’re really not embarrassed about it and you think it was totally constitutional, release the paper flow,” Hawley said. “Show us the documents where the president authorized the use of the pen for every single pardon and clemency.”

“And if you won’t do it, we should subpoena those documents,” Hawley said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, questioned whether Biden knew the autopen was being used for specific purposes.

“What we’re confronted with here is really the capacity of the president of the United States to understand what he was supposed to be doing,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn showed video clips of Biden’s disastrous debate performance with Trump last year, in which there were moments where then-president Biden was not able to communicate coherently.

The GOP side also pointed to a report from former special counsel Robert K. Hur, whose report included a discussion of how Biden’s memory was “significantly limited” during both the interview with investigators and a 2017 interview with a ghostwriter where Biden discussed holding onto classified material.

Democrats on the committee, for their part, dismissed the very topic of the Republican-led hearing.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said the committee should be putting its focus elsewhere, such as hearing from Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel about what they are doing to address U.S. political violence, including threats to federal judges and members of Congress.

“But instead of exercising this constitutional oversight duty, my Republican colleagues are holding this hearing,” said Durbin, the top Democrat on the panel. “Apparently, armchair diagnosing former President Biden is more important than the issues of grave concern which I have mentioned.”

Durbin did not stick around after his opening statement to ask questions at the hearing.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in a statement that Republicans “put on a circus hearing to try to distract from the current President’s strange, menacing behavior.”

“There are widespread concerns about President Trump’s mental acuity and increasing incitements to violence, and his judgment seems to deteriorate with each passing day,” Whitehouse said.

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