Trump cancels Biden’s ‘autopen’ orders — What exactly is this device, and has he ever used it?

US President Donald Trump on Friday (Nov 28) said that all documents signed by autopen under former president Joe Biden have been “terminated” and no longer in force or effect, levelling an attack against his predecessor in a legally uncertain move. Trump claimed that approximately 92 per cent of the documents were signed by autopen, without being approved by Biden.

Trump further claimed people who operated the autopen under Biden “did so illegally.” He added, “Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”

What is Autopen? Is it legal?

An autopen is a robotic device, patented in the US in 1803, which can replicate a person’s signature using real ink. It is often used for signing material in bulk or employed by public figures who need to sign documents remotely. The machine has a signature template and can mimic actual pen strokes of the individual in a consistent and secure manner.

According to a guidance issued by the Justice Department under president George W. Bush in 2005, a president does not need to sign a bill by hand and can instruct an official “to affix the president’s signature to such a bill, for example, by autopen.”

Which US presidents have used autopen?

Several US presidents have used the autopen. Thomas Jefferson used an early version of the device, as per the Shappell Manuscript Foundation. Harry Truman was rumoured to have used the autopen, while Gerald Ford and Lyndon B Johnson have even allowed the device to be photographed.

Other US leaders, including John F Kennedy and Barack Obama, have also used the device to sign several legislations. Obama allowed an aide to use the autopen to extend the Patriot Act while he was abroad, the first time a president publicly authorised using it. He used it again in 2013 to sign a bill aimed at avoiding a financial crisis in the country during a holiday in Hawaii.

Has Trump ever used autopen?

In March, Trump admitted that he had also used the very autopen, over which he has repeatedly attacked his predecessor, without providing any proof. The US president told reporters that he used the device “only for very unimportant papers.” He explained that the White House receives “thousands and thousands of letters, messages of support, letters for young people, from people who are ill, and so on.” Trump argued that the use of an autopen under Biden for formal actions, “pardons and all of the things that he signed with an autopen,” is “disgraceful.”