Hoo boy.
The committee, in a 91-page report released Tuesday, accused Biden's staffers of making executive decisions in his place toward the end of his presidency. House Republicans were probing what was known about Biden's health and age-related decline while in office.
The probe involved 14 depositions of former Biden aides to determine the use of the autopen, particularly during the last days of the administration.
Stare directly at this quote from the GOP-led House Oversight Committee:
Barring evidence of executive actions taken during the Biden presidency showing that President Biden indeed took a particular executive action, the Committee deems those actions taken through use of the autopen as void. The validity of the executive actions allegedly approved and signed (largely by autopen) by the President Biden must be reviewed to determine whether legal action is necessary to ameliorate consequences of any illegitimate pardons granted, or executive actions implemented, throughout the Biden Autopen Presidency. The Committee finds numerous executive actions - particularly clemency actions - taken during the Biden Administration were illegitimate. Therefore, the Committee urges the Department of Justice to investigate all executive actions attributed to President Joe Biden.
Republicans are known for dazzling people with their strongly-worded letters, so it is unknown if any action will indeed be taken.
The suggestion that the former president may not have been aware of many of his executive actions, however, is staggering.
Biden's "clemency actions" include a flurry of last-minute pardons for high-profile public figures connected to criminal and impeachment proceedings against Trump over the last decade, as well as a blanket pardon for Biden's son, Hunter.
This animation shows how these last-minute pardons were all signed via autopen:
Previous reports have indicated there were problems with the way the pardons were approved. In July, it came to light that a White House aide may have approved a machine signature for a pardon for Anthony Fauci.
Since White House aides are not, in fact, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, such an order would have no binding authority.
Here is the full report from the Oversight Committee, if you'd like to read it.
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