As reported, President Autopen ran the country for four years. According to the Oversight Heritage Project, every single document Joe Biden signed was written by the same signature on Autopen. Nothing was original. Even more interesting is the fact that Autopen worked through Joe Biden’s vacations and golf trips.
All the documents signed by Autopen said “Signed in the City of Washington,” even when Joe Biden was in the Virgin Islands.
A community note said that the Federal Register uses the same signature for every president.
The Project’s explanation for their concern is as follows:
Autopens have been used by U.S. presidents since at least Harry Truman, initially for responding to mail and signing checks, with Gerald Ford openly acknowledging its use.
Lyndon Johnson allowed photos of his autopen to be published in 1968, marking an early public acknowledgment of the technology in the presidency.
Barack Obama was the first president to use an autopen to sign a bill into law in 2011, extending the Patriot Act while in France, raising constitutional questions about presidential presence.
The use of autopens became controversial in 2013 when Obama signed the Bush tax cuts extension using an autopen while vacationing in Hawaii, prompting debates about its legality under the U.S. Constitution.
Recent reports highlight that Joe Biden’s administration extensively used an autopen, sparking investigations into who controlled the device, especially given concerns about his cognitive capacity during his presidency.
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