Trump Declares That Pardons Issued By Former President Biden Are “Void And Vacant”
on Mar 17, 2025
President Donald Trump Says Biden’s Pardons Have “No Further Force Or Effect”
In a newly shared post, President Trump questioned the validity of pardons granted by former President Biden during his term.
Trump took to his self-owned social platform, Truth Social, on Monday morning, March 17. He alleges that Biden used an automated signature on multiple official documents.
The pardons that Trump is questioning include Biden’s preemptive pardons of all nine members of the January 6 committee, along with others signed on Biden’s last day in office.
The current president now argues that the past pardons should be “void, vacant, and of no further force or effect.”
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” wrote Trump.
Trump also said that Biden was unaware of these pardons and had not personally approved them. He has not given any evidence to support these claims, though.
“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden.”
Read Donald Trump’s full statement below.
Is It Illegal For A President To Use An Autopen?
It has been said that political officials have used automated signatures for years. An autopen is done by a machine that replicates a person’s real signature by digitally recording it. Then, it is mechanically written on presented documents.
This tool is used to sign multiple documents at once or for situations where an official can’t be present to sign time-sensitive paperwork. It has been widely debated on if the use of autopen should be allowed or not. However, there are no current laws that prohibit government officials from using one to sign documents.
The first president recorded to use the autopen for a legislative bill was former President Barack Obama in 2011. He used it to sign an extension of the Patriot Act while he was abroad. There was only 15 minutes to spare before critical surveillance powers were set to expire after Congress had approved the measure, according to Raw Story.
The Independent reports that on Sunday evening, President Trump told reporters that the decision of whether or not Biden’s pardons would remain in effect would ultimately be up to the courts.
