WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is threatening to nullify pardons for lawmakers who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, claiming they are void because former President Joe Biden used an autopen to sign the documents rather than by hand.
In a lengthy Truth Social post on Monday morning, Trump declared the pardons granted to members of the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the Capitol riot “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT” because they were allegedly signed by autopen.
Trump claimed Biden did not sign the documents and that he “knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime.” The president then went on to allege the lawmakers who were pardoned “were probably responsible” for signing the documents “without the knowledge or consent” of Biden.
Trump did not provide evidence for these claims. However, they stem from allegations by the conservative Heritage Foundation concluding that thousands of pages of documents signed by Biden were done so by an autopen.
An autopen is a device with a pen or pen-holding arm that uses ink to reproduce signatures for the signatory. Several presidents have been known, or rumored, to use the autopen over the last several decades — even Trump himself. (Trump has said he only used autopen for “unimportant papers” such as letters.)
It’s unknown if Biden actually signed the pardons with an autopen. But even if he had, it’s not clear if the presidential pardons can be rescinded after they’ve already been granted.
The Constitution states the pardon need only be “accepted by its subject” to take effect, although it does not have any guidance about repealing the pardon once it has been issued. Additionally, the Constitution does not require pardons to be issued in writing.
Democrats on the Select Jan. 6 Committee are banking on that language to preserve their pardons — and are even daring Trump to go to battle over it.
“Let’s be crystal clear: this is a bluff. A desperate, weak, and ultimately meaningless bluff,” former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of only two Republican members on the Jan. 6 committee, wrote in a post on Substack. “And now, because he can’t handle reality, Trump wants to puff out his chest and threaten the committee? Fine. Do it. Or shut up.”
Members of the former committee argue their findings are indisputable regarding his role in the riot at the Capitol on the day Congress met to certify the 2020 presidential election.
“Trump was responsible for Jan 6. That’s why on day one he pardoned those who beat police that day,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, who served as chairman of the committee, posted on X. “We thoroughly & legally investigated what he did and have lived rent free in his mind since. He knows his guilt.”
Trump threatened Jan. 6 committee members
The threats to withdraw the presidential pardons is the latest in a string of actions by Trump in response to the Jan. 6 fallout after his first term.
Shortly after his 2024 victory, Trump threatened to imprison members of the House select committee for their work on the investigation, prompting Biden’s pardons before he left office. Trump has also pledged to fire some FBI personnel who were involved in Capitol riot cases that resulted in hundreds of convictions.
Those 1,500 rioters were pardoned by Trump on his first day in office.
In his latest Truth Social post, Trump warned members of the Jan. 6 committee they are “subject to investigation at the highest level” and accused them of “destroy(ing) and delet(ing) ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me.”
Members of the committee pushed back against those allegations, saying the threats were a scare tactic.
“The members of the Jan 6 Committee are all proud of our work,” Sen. Adam Schiff, who sat on the committee when he served in the House, posted on X. “Your threats will not intimidate us. Or silence us.”