On January 19, Washington, D.C. was alive with excitement and activity. The very next day, the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, would be sworn in as the 47th president after a historic presidential campaign that culminated in a sweeping capture of both the electoral college and the popular vote. But before he was to return to the Oval Office, Trump’s two-time rival and soon-to-be predecessor, Joe Biden, was reported to have signed a last-minute warrant pardoning National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci.

Pardoning him from what? According to the warrant itself, the scientist who had been accused of funding the creation of the COVID-19 disease in a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) laboratory was now to be shielded from prosecution for “any offenses against the United States which he may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon…”

Beneath the terms and scope of the pardon was affixed a signature: “Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” The signature was written in bold strokes in a thick, dark pen. But just a few months earlier, when the incumbent president made the consequential decision not to continue campaigning against Trump and, instead, to allow another Democrat to take the baton in the race for the White House, the signature at the bottom of the letter, signed not in the White House but in the Biden family’s residence in Delaware, was a thin, scratchy, scrawl.

There was no “Joseph,” just a “J” and an “R,” although the “J” resembled a spindly slash more than a letter of the alphabet. The “B” in “Biden” curved and bent and was comprised of two strokes, neither connected to the other, and neither connected to the next letter. In contrast, the “Biden” signature emblazoned upon the pardon featured an elegant, cursive “B,” with a thin top and a bulbous base that flowed neatly into the next letter. In fact, the signature on the pardon was seemingly identical to the signatures on countless documents, pardons, and executive orders promulgated by Biden’s administration.

So why did the president’s signature announcing his departure from his presidential campaign — a signature written by the president’s own hand, outside the White House, surrounded not by a veritable army of aides and staffers but only a small circle of close confidantes and advisors — look so different?

Now secure in the Oval Office — and happily signing a barrage of executive orders in his own hand on camera, commenting on each one with his trademark brand of wit — Trump intends to answer that question, as well as the far more consequential question which naturally follows: If the major actions of the Biden presidency were authorized by autopen and if the president himself was in a crippled state of mental and cognitive dilapidation, then was someone other than the president actually making the administration’s decisions?

Fauci was responsible for stifling children with masks, isolating Americans in their homes for weeks and months, shutting down churches and religious services across the country, crippling the economy, forcing many to die alone in hospital rooms without their families around them, and, less directly, coercing millions into taking an experimental shot that has since been linked to heart disease and death — all with little to no evidence backing those decisions and all while having funded the very gain-of-function research which unleashed COVID-19 on the world. As of January 19, he cannot be prosecuted for any of those actions.

U.S. Army General Mark Milley conferred with CCP military leaders and promised to alert them of any potential U.S. military action against China in advance. He, too, was pardoned via autopen signature and cannot now be prosecuted for potential espionage or conspiracy to treason. Were these pardons, blatantly obstructing the possibility for justice to be done and the nation’s integrity and security to be protected, issued by the president of the United States? Or were they issued by staffers, adjutants, aides, and advisors wielding the signature of a cognitively impaired old man without his knowledge?

In a Wednesday memo, Trump directed White House Counsel David Warrington, along with Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials, to “investigate, to the extent permitted by law, whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President.” The investigation, according to Trump’s memo, will focus on “any activity, coordinated or otherwise, to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health;” “any agreements between Biden’s aides to cooperatively and falsely deem recorded videos of the President’s cognitive inability as fake;” “any agreements between Biden’s aides to require false, public statements elevating the President’s capabilities;” and “the purpose of these activities, including to assert the authorities of the President.”

The investigation will also examine “the circumstances surrounding Biden’s supposed execution of numerous executive actions during his final years in office,” focusing on “the policy documents for which the autopen was used, including clemency grants, Executive Orders, Presidential memoranda, or other Presidential policy decisions,” as well as “who directed that the President’s signature be affixed.”

Noting that “the Nation is governed through Presidential signatures,” Trump recounted in the memo, “The vast majority of Biden’s executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen, as opposed to Biden’s own hand.” The 45th and 47th president added, “This was especially true of actions taken during the second half of his Presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him.” He continued, “In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority. This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”

The Oversight Project, an organization dedicated to government accountability and transparency, has been leading the charge to determine who was using the autopen and whether or not Biden knew it. In comments to The Washington Stand, Oversight Project Vice President of Legal Kyle Brosnan said, “President Biden ran the least transparent administration in American history. President Biden’s handlers, political allies, and the corporate media covered up his obvious mental decline while in office.” He explained, “Our investigation uncovering widespread use of the autopen to sign pardons and other presidential documents is evidence of one of the biggest scandals in American history. We are encouraged by President Trump and Congress’s investigation into this matter.” Brosnan emphasized, “The American people deserve an answer on who was running the country these past your years and those individuals who perpetuated this coup d’etat should be held accountable.”

The Biden administration’s use of the autopen, in conjunction with the then-president’s mental and cognitive deterioration, has been the subject of much controversy, especially following Biden’s departure from the 2024 presidential race due to his advanced age and perceived senility. Trump declared pardons issued by the Biden administration to be “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!”

A subsequent report suggested that Biden himself was unaware of at least eight executive orders he supposedly “signed” via autopen, based on the fact that he never referenced the executive orders or their contents. “Not in a press conference. Not in a speech. Not even a video statement,” the report observed.

The House Oversight Committee is also investigating “the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s mental decline and potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions…” Former White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams have already been subpoenaed, and the committee has requested information from Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor. On Wednesday, committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced he is also subpoenaing former Senior Advisor to the President Mike Donilon, former Senior Advisor to the President for Communications Anita Dunn, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Bruce Reed, and former Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti.

In a statement delivered to multiple media outlets via email, Biden reportedly insisted that he had been aware of and responsible for all his administration’s decisions. “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” the statement read. It continued, “This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”

It is not clear from media reports who signed the email.