Why Biden’s ‘autopen’ signatures on White House documents have raised concern

Former US President Joe Biden is under fire for using an autopen to authorise multiple official White House documents during his tenure.

The allegation, brought forward by the Oversight Project, a branch of the Heritage Foundation, claims that Biden’s signature on several official documents was produced using an autopen device.

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‘WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY,’ the Oversight Project posted on X on Thursday.

These claims follow years of scrutiny over Biden’s presidency, which was hampered by questions regarding his mental acuity and ability to govern.

But what exactly are ‘autopen signatures’? And what do we know about these explosive allegations against the former US President?

We will answer these questions:

🚨Biden Autopen Pardons on VACATION?🚨

Who is behind this autopen on 12/30/2022 that pardoned six criminals (with the exact same autopen signature) while Joe Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands?

Note they all say they are "Signed in the City of… https://t.co/b0SEtalm4N pic.twitter.com/dN7BbVOiVj

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 10, 2025

What is an ‘autopen signature’?

An autopen is a mechanical device that enables documents to be signed without direct human involvement.

It has been used by presidents and lawmakers for decades.

Barack Obama was the first US president to use an autopen to sign an executive order, according to Newsweek.

Notably, Trump also made extensive use of the autopen during both his first and second terms. An analysis by the Daily Mail found that 25 of Trump’s signatures on the Federal Register’s website across both presidencies were identical.

What we know about Biden’s use of ‘autopen’

The Oversight Project, a division of the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025, released a report last week alleging that Biden used an “autopen signature” on nearly “every document we could find.”

‘We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year,’ it stated in a post on X.

🚨WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY🚨

We gathered every document we could find with Biden's signature over the course of his presidency.

All used the same autopen signature except for the the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the… https://t.co/CC3oJUkNr4 pic.twitter.com/mtNrZsALDu

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 6, 2025

The total number of documents reviewed was not immediately clear.

The Oversight Project presented three examples of Biden’s signature on official documents, including two executive orders signed in August 2022 and December 2024, along with a screenshot of the final line of Biden’s July 2024 letter withdrawing from the presidential race.

The two executive orders appeared to bear identical autopen signatures, whereas the signature on the withdrawal letter was different.

Fox News claimed to have examined over 20 executive orders signed by Biden between 2021 and 2024 “at random,” all of which reportedly had the same signature.

However, CNN reported last year that the use of an autopen was rare in Biden’s administration. The White House had at times gone to great lengths to ensure Biden physically signed bills while travelling abroad.

This included a $40 billion Ukraine aid package he signed while in South Korea in 2022 and a 2022 bill to prevent a government shutdown while he was on holiday in St. Croix, according to the report.

The Oversight Project implied that Biden may not have personally signed these documents, suggesting the involvement of an unidentified figure 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.

Biden made a dramatic exit from the 2024 presidential race in July, just months before Election Day, after repeatedly claiming during his time in office that he was capable of serving a second term.

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How people are reacting to the claims

In a letter sent to the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called for an investigation into whether Biden’s cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to implement radical policies without his explicit approval.

Bailey, a Trump ally, argued that if Biden had been manipulated, the executive orders in question would be ’null and void,’ adding that states had a right to know.

He also claimed that GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson said White House officials blocked him from meeting Biden.

As part of its series of posts about the autopen, the Oversight Project shared a video clip of Johnson in an interview where he stated that Biden did not recall signing an executive order on energy exports.

In the interview, Johnson recounted his exchange with the former president, during which Biden insisted he had only authorised a study on the effects of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

While the Oversight Project said that all the signatures it reviewed, except for the one on Biden’s withdrawal letter, appeared to have been made using an autopen, Heritage attorney Samuel Dewey identified another signature believed to have been done in person.

During an interview with Real America’s Voice, Dewey said Hunter Biden’s pardon signature was ‘shaky’, Dailymail reported.

With inputs from agencies