Former President Joe Biden’s bid to keep records about his administration’s use of an autopen under wraps has been rejected by the current Trump White House, intensifying a high‑stakes clash over presidential authority and transparency, Fox News reports. The dispute centers on whether key Biden‑era executive actions were personally approved by Biden or effectively delegated to staff operating a signature machine.
In early October 2025, Biden asked the National Archives to withhold certain documents from Congress, arguing that they reflected confidential presidential deliberations protected by executive privilege. He maintained that while many records from his tenure had already been turned over, this particular package involved sensitive decision making that presidents must be able to conduct candidly with close advisers.
Trump White House Counsel David Warrington responded in December by denying Biden’s privilege request and refusing to extend executive immunity over the disputed files. In a letter to the Archives, Warrington argued that Congress has a compelling need to examine how the autopen was used during Biden’s presidency and whether it undermined the proper execution of presidential duties.
An autopen, a device that can mechanically reproduce a signature, has existed in Washington for decades but rarely attracted this level of scrutiny. Conservative watchdogs and Republican lawmakers allege that the Biden team relied on the machine to sign a vast number of executive orders, pardons, and other official documents, raising questions about who truly authorized major decisions.
Investigators have pointed to differing versions of Biden’s signature on various records, including pardons for his son Hunter Biden and other relatives, compared with signatures on documents related to executive privilege. They contend that these discrepancies bolster suspicions that aides may have approved or implemented actions using a standardized, machine‑generated signature rather than Biden’s own hand.
Biden has forcefully rejected the notion that the autopen was used behind his back or that others made decisions in his name. He has insisted that he personally decided on pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations, dismissing claims to the contrary as “ridiculous” and “false.”
Republicans in Congress have used the autopen issue to revisit long‑running concerns about Biden’s age and mental acuity. Committee reports and hearings have focused on whether senior aides concealed signs of cognitive decline and, in doing so, allowed or directed the use of the autopen for substantial executive actions without Biden’s full engagement.
Key former aides and officials, including Biden’s onetime physician and senior West Wing staff, have been questioned about the decision‑making process, document signing procedures, and what they observed about the president’s capacity in office. GOP committee leaders argue that the pattern of autopen use, if fully documented, would show an unprecedented attempt by staff to govern in the president’s name.
Donald Trump has seized on the controversy to frame the “autopen presidency” as one of the most consequential scandals in modern American politics. He has repeatedly warned that “whoever controlled the autopen controlled the presidency,” contending that the device became a vehicle for unelected aides to wield power.
Trump has also vowed to terminate any Biden‑era documents he deems to have been improperly signed via autopen, including potentially major executive orders and pardons. By rejecting Biden’s assertion of privilege over the relevant records, the Trump White House has opened the door for Congress to probe how far the practice extended—and whether it will seek to invalidate specific actions taken during Biden’s four years in office.