President Donald Trump on Wednesday instructed the administration to investigate Joe Biden’s actions as president, claiming that aides concealed his predecessor’s “cognitive decline” and questioned the legitimacy of using autopens to sign pardons and other documents.
The order marked a significant escalation in targeting Trump’s political opponents and laid the basis for a debate by Republicans that the scope of Biden’s actions as president is ineffective.
Biden responded in a statement Wednesday night: “Let’s be clear. We made decisions during the presidency. We made decisions on pardons, executive orders, laws and declarations.
“This is nothing more than a distraction from Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who work to cut down important programs like Medicaid and push for disastrous laws to raise the costs of American families.
The Justice Department, based on Democrats and Republican administrations, has been aware of the use of autopens to sign the law and issue amnesty for decades, and Trump has offered no evidence that Biden is unaware of the actions taken in his name.
“This conspiracy is one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” Trump wrote in a note. “While the American people were intentionally protected from discovering who used enforcement, Biden’s signatures were deployed in thousands of documents, leading to radical policy changes.”
Trump oversaw Attorney General Pam Bondy and White House lawyer David Warrington and directed the investigation to be handled.
It is unclear how far Trump will push this effort. This will face certain legal challenges. But that reflects his fixation against Biden, who beat him in 2020. This is an election that Trump never admits and continues to insist on false claims, and continues to assert that he has been united against him.
Trump frequently suggests that Biden was wrong to use an autopen, a mechanical device that replicates a person’s real signature. They have been used in the White House for decades, but Trump claims that Biden’s aides are taking away presidential authorities.
Biden issued a pardon shortly before for his two brothers and his sister, hoping to protect them from potential prosecutions under Trump, which he promised retaliation during the campaign last year. Other pardon recipients included members of the Congressional Committee that investigated the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump often suggested that he should investigate his political opponents, and he instructed the Justice Department to look into those who have been pissing him over the years. They include Chris Krebs, a former cybersecurity employee who challenged Trump’s claims about the 2020 stolen election, and Miles Taylor of the Homeland Security Agency, who wrote an anonymous OP-ED in 2018, in a keen and critical manner towards the president.
Meanwhile, the Republican chairman of the Kentucky House Supervisory Committee, demanding transcription interviews with five Biden aides, claiming he took part in a “coverup” that reached “one of the greatest scandals in our country’s history.”
“These five former senior advisers were witnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House,” Comer said in a statement. “They have to come in front of the House Oversight Committee and provide the true answers about President Biden’s recognition status and who was calling the shot.”
The interviews were requested to interview with senior White House adviser Mike Donilon and former White House Chiefron Crane, former vice chief of staff Bruce Reid and former presidential counselor Steve Richetti, Anita Dunn.
Comer repeatedly appeared before the committee of Biden’s doctor Kevin O’Connor and former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden. He warned that if he refuses to schedule an voluntary interview, a subpoena would be issued this week.
“I think people will come in the next two weeks,” Comer told reporters. He added that the committee will release a report with its findings.
The Democrats rejected the effort as a distraction.
“Chair Comer had his big name in the last Congress to get Joe Biden to fire each, and of course it was an epic flop,” said Rep. Jamie Ruskin, a Maryland Democrat who served as a ranking member of the oversight committee in the previous Congress. “And now he’s only living from the dreams he’s been used. It’s over. And he should give up everything.”
Republicans on the committee are eager to pursue investigations.
“Americans didn’t choose bureaucracy to run the country,” said Rep. Brandon Gill, a freshman Republican from Texas. “I think Americans deserve to know the truth and they want to know the truth about what happened.”
The Republican investigation so far has focused on the ultimate enforcement action of the Biden administration. This includes issuing new federal rules and the amnesty of the president who they claim is invalid.
Comer cited the book “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios.
In the book, Tupper and Thompson wrote, “Five of them ran the country, Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”
Biden and his family members vehemently denied the book’s allegations.
“The book is a political fairy smut for a permanent, professional chat class,” said Naomi Biden, the granddaughter of the former president.
Biden withdrew from the presidential election last summer after a debate with Trump. There, he lost his line of thoughts, muttering unheard answers, and seemed to misunderstand different government programs.
The disastrous debate performance raised the forefront of questioning his age and mental vision, and ultimately led Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. He was replaced on the ticket by Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump.
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