Donald Trump and predecessor Joe Biden (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump has ordered his administration to launch a probe into Joe Biden’s actions as US President over claims that aides concealed his predecessor’s alleged “cognitive decline”. The order marked a significant escalation in Mr Trump’s targeting of political adversaries and could potentially pave the way for the billionaire to push claims that the range of 81-year-old Mr Biden’s actions as president were invalid.
Mr Biden responded in a statement issued on Wednesday evening in which he said: “Let me be clear. I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.” The Justice Department under Democratic and Republican administrations has recognised the use of an autopen to sign legislation and issue pardons for decades. Mr Trump has presented no evidence that Biden was unaware of the actions taken in his name, and the president’s absolute pardon power is enshrined in the US Constitution.
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Nevertheless the 78-year-old wrote in a memo: “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.
“The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”
Mr Trump has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington to handle the investigation.
It remains unclear how far Mr Trump will push this effort, which would face certain legal challenges.
The US president frequently suggests that Mr Biden was wrong to use an autopen, a mechanical device which replicates a person’s authentic signature.
President Donald Trump has never conceded defeat following his loss in 2020 (Image: Getty)
Although they have been used in the White House for decades, Mr Trump claims Mr Biden’s aides were usurping presidential authority.
Mr Biden issued pardons for his two brothers and his sister shortly before leaving office, hoping to shield them from potential prosecution under Mr Trump, who had promised retribution during last year’s campaign.
Other pardon recipients included members of a congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
Mr Trump often suggests that his political opponents should be investigated, and he has directed the Justice Department to look into people who have angered him over the years.
They include Chris Krebs, a former cybersecurity official who disputed Mr Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020, and Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who wrote an anonymous op-ed sharply critical of the president in 2018.
Meanwhile, House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, a Republican, requested transcribed interviews with five Mr Biden aides, alleging they had participated in a “cover-up” that amounted to “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history.”
Mr Comer said: “These five former senior advisors were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House.
“They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.””
Interviews were requested with White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counsellor to the president.
Mr Comer reiterated his call for Mr Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, and former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee. He warned subpoenas would be issued this week if they refuse to schedule voluntary interviews.
Mr Comer told reporters: “I think that people will start coming in the next two weeks.” He added that the committee would release a report with its findings, “and we’ll release the transcribed interviews, so it’ll be very transparent.”
Democrats have dismissed the effort as a distraction. Representative Jamie Raskin, the Maryland Democrat who served as the ranking member on the oversight committee in the previous Congress, said: “Chairman Comer had his big shot in the last Congress to impeach Joe Biden and it was, of course, a spectacular flop.”
House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky (Image: Getty)
However, Republicans on the committee are eager to pursue the investigation. Representative Brandon Gill, a freshman Republican from Texas, said: “The American people didn’t elect a bureaucracy to run the country. I think that the American people deserve to know the truth and they want to know the truth of what happened.”
The Republican inquiry so far has focused on the final executive actions of Mr Biden’s administration, which included the issuing of new federal rules and presidential pardons that they claim may be invalid.
Mr Comer cited the book ‘Original Sin’ by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden’s mental state and age.
In the book, Mr Tapper and Mr Thompson wrote: “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”
Biden and members of his family have vigorously denied the book’s claims, with the former president’s granddaughter saying: “This book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class.”
