An autopen is an electromechanical device that precisely replicates a person’s signature. High-ranking officials, including U.S. presidents, sometimes use it to sign large volumes of documents without their direct input.
Although legally acceptable in some cases, its use for signing critical legal documents—especially without transparent oversight—has raised concerns about authenticity and accountability.
A report from the Oversight Project, which is a division of the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, claims that every document featuring Biden’s signature—aside from the letter announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 race—seems to have been produced using an autopen.
These findings have sparked concerns about Biden’s cognitive state and raised questions over whether unelected officials were effectively making decisions on his behalf.
“WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY,” the Oversight Project declared on X, along with images comparing Biden’s signatures. The watchdog alleged that during Biden’s presidency, important executive actions—such as orders, pardons, and directives—were likely signed without his direct involvement.
The group also noted a document — the letter where Biden announced he was dropping his reelection bid — appears to have a different style of signature.
Amid increasing pressure from Republicans and transparency advocates, there are growing calls for Congress to investigate who controlled Biden’s presidential signings and whether the American public was misled about who was truly running the country.
Amid increasing pressure from Republicans and transparency advocates, there are growing calls for Congress to investigate who controlled Biden’s presidential signings and whether the American public was misled about who was truly running the country.
🚨 Autopen Update 🚨
We analyzed Biden’s Jan. 19, 2025 “pardons” for:-Biden Family Members
-Anthony Fauci
-General Milley
-J6 Committee
-Gerald LunderganThey all have the same exact Biden autopen signature https://t.co/jc6mkx37il pic.twitter.com/8VeBDwLNv7
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 11, 2025
🚨Biden Autopen Pardons on VACATION?🚨
Who is behind this autopen on 12/30/2022 that pardoned six criminals (with the exact same autopen signature) while Joe Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
Note they all say they are “Signed in the City of… https://t.co/b0SEtalm4N pic.twitter.com/dN7BbVOiVj
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 10, 2025
This month, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey urged the U.S. Department of Justice to examine whether aides to former President Biden concealed his cognitive decline to promote a far-left agenda.
In a public letter, Bailey claimed that much of Biden’s final policies are “legally void” and that staffers may have taken advantage of his condition to issue orders without his informed consent.
“By now, Biden’s mental decline is famous,” Bailey wrote to Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. “Under the 25th Amendment, his inability to make decisions should have meant a succession of power.”
He further claimed Biden’s staffers issued “aggressively much farther to the left” orders that should be invalid.
“Who has been running the country for the last few years?” Bailey asked in his letter. “I fear that Mr. Biden… was a mere puppet for far-left, unelected staffers. The people deserve to know the truth.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) recalled an incident earlier this year that also fueled speculation that Biden wasn’t in charge of his own administration and wasn’t signing his own orders.
Johnson said that during a meeting at the Oval Office with Biden in 2024, the then-commander-in-chief did not remember he signed an executive order pausing the sale of liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe.
Johnson recounted the story publicly for the first time during an episode of Bari Weiss’ podcast “Honestly” for The Free Press. He explained that, based on his “personal observation” in dealing with Biden, the president “has not been in charge for some time.”
His account was originally reported by the Wall Street Journal in June, although that report was based on anonymous sources.
When Weiss pressed Johnson for more details, he recounted how Biden’s staff continually dismissed his attempts to schedule a meeting with the president in January 2024, amid “big national concerns” that, as he put it, kept him awake at night.
Johnson said that after media pressure, Biden’s staff eventually relented and invited him to the Oval Office to meet the president. However, he noted that the meeting did not begin as anticipated.
“I show up and I realize it’s actually an ambush ’cause it’s not just me and the president,” Johnson said. “It’s also Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, The CIA Director.”
Johnson said that when Biden requested to have the room to himself, the group began grilling him on Ukraine funding—a move that visibly unsettled the president’s staff. Once they were alone in the Oval Office, Johnson asked the president about his pause on LNG exports.
“I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana,” Johnson recalled telling Biden. “Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him.”
Biden replied: “I didn’t do that” — which Johnson said left him stunned.
“He genuinely did not know what he had signed,” Johnson said. “And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?’ Like, I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.”