Biden’s Pardons For Jan 6 Committee Are ‘Void’ — Trump Claims
Source: Pool / Getty
President Donald Trump claims that the pardons for members of the House select committee that investigated the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol are invalid. The reason being is because former President Joe Biden did not sign the documents with a real pen.
Trump posted on his social media pages: “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.
The president went on to allege that Biden didn’t know about the pardons nor approve them. Therefore, all the committee members would be “subject to investigate at the highest level.” However, the Constitution makes it clear that the president has unique executive powers to issue pardons and makes no provisions for subsequent presidents to rescind them. This includes issues relating to the choice of pen or anything else.
Biden and former President Barack Obama both used an autopen device to sign official documents. This is a practice which is legally binding, according to 2005 guidance from the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. The counsel was commissioned by former President George W. Bush. The guidance has not been challenged in court.
Trump’s comments on Biden’s pardons appear to have been inspired by the Oversight Project. This is an offshoot of the Heritage foundation, which is known to be heavily swayed by the right-wing side of politics.
A presidential pardon needs to be fully delivered to the recipient and the president can’t pardon crimes related to impeachment. It is currently unclear what legal avenue Trump intends to pursue to undo Biden’s orders.
