[Yes, I see there is already a rec’d diary on this — but I plan to get into the background which that story doesn’t]
Of all the insane ridiculous unconstitutional shit that Drumphf has done lately, this is the most ridiculous.
"The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," Trump wrote.
"In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level. The fact is, they were probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden!"
Yeah, there’s a fair bit of projection here — starting with the fact that it’s not even clear that Biden used an “autopen” at all.
As Snopes explains, presidents have long used assorted versions of the autopen since the early 19th Century and using such devices does not undermine the legitimacy of presidential signatures.
What's more, it is not at all clear that Biden used an autopen to sign his pardons, as comparisons of the signature used by the autopen and signatures that Biden personally placed on bills appear very similar.
So, to sum up -— there was likely no autopen. Biden probably did know and approve those pardons which is fairly easy to determine.
The pardons are valid.
Also it’s pretty funny that he’s claiming Biden “didn’t know what he signed” since it appears that his handlers are explaining the executive order to him — which has been pre-written by a Project 2025 crony — as he signs them.
Any attempt to investigate the J6 Committee will end with finding that they didn’t “delete” all their information, they simply didn’t save some irrelevant information to their investigation.
But now, in the final weeks before the 2024 election, some conservative influencers — including Donald Trump Jr. and Jack Posobiec — are spreading a meme making the false claim that the committee destroyed “all the evidence” linking Trump to the attack.
The meme features a picture of Al Pacino in the 1983 film “Scarface” with this text: “If Trump was guilty why did the J6 Select Committee destroy all the evidence they compiled against him?”
The committee did no such thing.
The claim that the committee destroyed evidence appears to be a reprise of a talking point we wrote about last year. Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, of Georgia, had told Fox News in a story published on Aug. 8, 2023, that the committee hadn’t adequately preserved some documents, data and video depositions.
The same day, Trump took that argument further, posting on his social media platform: “The January 6th Unselect Committee got rid of EVERYTHING! Discarded, Deleted, Thrown Out. A Flagrant Violation of the law.”
The following month, in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump made a similar claim.
But, as we noted at the time, Loudermilk’s original claim didn’t allege that the committee’s records were destroyed, as Trump claimed. Rather, Loudermilk raised concerns over what materials needed to be archived. When we reached out to Trump’s spokesperson for clarification or evidence to support his claims, we didn’t get a response.
In a letter to Loudermilk on July 7, 2023, Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee, reported that more than a million records had been prepared for publication and archiving in coordination with several governmental offices, including the National Archives and Records Administration and the Committee on House Administration.
In a footnote to that letter, Thompson explained, “the Select Committee did not archive temporary committee records that were not elevated by the Committee’s actions, such as use in hearings or official publications, or those that did not further its investigative activities.”
No part of this recent post by Drumphf is supported by facts. It’s at best, a delusion. A phantasm. it’s fucking nonsense.
But he’s going to direct Pam Barbie to have her flock of flying monkeys go chasing this phantasm around and around in a bogus investigation of nothing. Can you imagine them conducting a Grand Jury over literally nothing? And then trying to file an indictment of Bennie Thompson based on something that literally didn’t happen?
And then have those charges laughed out of court because all these people have already been pardoned?
Even if Biden did use an autopen, which he probably didn’t.
Actually, now that I think about it — that would be fun. Go for it Donald, let’s see how it turns out.
It would be a perfect example of his delusional insanity for everyone to see. We already know that the idea that Biden somehow “stole” the 2020 election is just plain nuts, right? It’s bonkers. There’s no physical way that could have happened.
But Trump doubles down on it, repeatedly.
He claims that “Russia Russia Russia” was a hoax even though 25 Russians were indicted for criminal hacking and foreign influence on the 2016 campaign. Even though 8 members of his entourage were arrested, indicted and convicted. Even though 5 of those people were charged and convicted for lying under oath about their conversations with Russia. [Why the fuck would you need to lie under oath about what you said to Russians?] Even though Trump himself was found “Not Exonerated” by Robert Mueller. Mueller just couldn’t indict him because he was sitting President at the time and people kept repeatedly lying about his links to Russia. Then, if you recall, he pardoned all those guys as a reward for their silence.
He said they were “Eating the cats, eating the dogs.”
Most people assume these are just political claims meant to push the narrative in his direction — but I don’t think it’s that simple or cynical.
He really, seriously has no practical grasp on reality. Yes, these lies are all conveniently situated to make him look good and his opponents look bad. Sure, there’s that. But I think he believes these delusions. He doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t.
And that's truly frightening with the power he has.
And what’s worse is that all his little sycophants also believe this bullshit.
Jamie Rakin responding to Trump’s call that the J6 Committee pardons are “Invalid.”
x
I could write up why there’s no constitutional problem with the President using an auto-pen to sign official documents—or I could just post the 30-page 2005 opinion by George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel that explains why in lots of detail.
I choose the latter:
www.justice.gov/file/494411/...
— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) 2025-03-17T13:56:45.520Z
