For weeks, Republicans have been investigating 82-year-old former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline in conjunction with the Biden administration’s sweeping use of the autopen, to determine who was actually running the White House over the four years of Biden’s term. A focal point of the multiple Republican-led investigations has been a series of pardons and clemency grants issued by the Biden administration in the days and hours before President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Now, Biden himself is speaking out on the subject, claiming that he was, in fact, in charge, while at the same time admitting that he didn’t make all the decisions.

In an interview with The New York Times, Biden insisted, “I made every decision,” including approving his staff’s use of the autopen to sign “a whole lot” of commutations, sentence reductions, and pardons. However, he admitted that he did not look at or approve every single name on the lists that his signature was attached to, instead setting guidelines for categories to be crafted. According to White House emails obtained by NYT, a series of assistants would alert staff when Biden had approved a tranche of pardons to be signed, but the assistants themselves were not present during discussions with Biden and were informed of decisions by White House Counsel Ed Siskel and Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients. NYT noted that “the process sometimes took place several days after the meeting with Mr. Biden.”

This follows testimony offered by former Biden advisor and staff secretary Neera Tanden, who told Republican investigators that she was authorized to use the autopen to attach Biden’s signature to documents but did not receive approval for signing individual documents from Biden himself. Instead, Tanden and others would submit requests to Biden’s “inner circle” but had no way of knowing or verifying that Biden himself was the one approving those requests, instead of advisors like Zients.

Commenting on the Biden administration’s use of the autopen, Trump said Monday, “The autopen I think is maybe one of the biggest scandals that we’ve had in 50 to 100 years. This is a tremendous scandal.” Referring to Biden’s advisors as “sick people,” Trump added, “I guarantee you, he knew nothing about what he was signing. I guarantee it.” Trump has previously suggested that Biden administration pardons are “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!”

Earlier this year, a report from the American energy advocacy group Power the Future found “no evidence” that Biden was aware of at least eight climate- and energy-related executive orders signed by autopen and issued by his administration. The then-president never acknowledged, spoke of, or referenced the executive orders. When questioned by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about an executive order halting liquefied natural gas exports, Biden had no recollection of signing the order and even claimed to Johnson that he “didn’t do that.” Johnson commented, “It occurred to me … he was not lying to me. He genuinely did not know what he had signed.”

The Oversight Project, a government accountability and transparency organization, has reported that almost all executive orders and proclamations issued by the Biden administration were signed by autopen. Responding to Biden’s NYT interview, the Oversight Project released a statement saying, “Our autopen investigation goes to the core of our Constitutional Republic. America can only have one President at a time, and only one that is actually chosen through an election process that can be trusted.” The organization added, “Our work has revealed that the Biden Administration was a rudderless ship run by unelected bureaucrats operating in complete contradiction to the Constitution.”

The Oversight Project averred that Biden advisors and deputies such as then-Vice President Kamala Harris refused to invoke the 25th Amendment because Democrats “preferred to have an incapacitated President…” The organization referred to the alleged manipulation of the cognitively-impaired Biden as “one of the gravest constitutional violations in American history. In some aspects, it may have been criminal.”

Currently, White House Counsel David Warrington and the U.S. Department of Justice are conducting an investigation into the Biden administration’s use of the autopen and coverup of Biden’s cognitive decline, while the House Oversight Committee is running a parallel investigation. Biden’s long-time physician, Kevin O’Connor, testified before the Oversight Committee last week, repeatedly citing doctor-patient privilege and invoking the protections of the Fifth Amendment. Ultimately, O’Connor stated his name for the record and answered “Yes” when asked if he would tell the truth while being sworn in. Afterwards, he refused to answer questions, repeatedly responding, “On the advice of counsel, I must respectfully decline to answer based upon the physician-patient privilege and in reliance on my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”

The Oversight Committee also intends to question former senior advisor to Jill Biden Anthony Bernal, 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, former Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, and former Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini.

Former Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations Ashley Williams testified before the Oversight Committee Friday in a closed-door session and reportedly told Republican investigators that she did not “recall” numerous aspects of her time with the Biden family or in the Biden White House. For example, Williams claimed not to recall how she became involved with Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, whether or not teleprompters were used in the White House, whether or not she ever had to wake Biden up, or even whether or not she spoke to Biden within the past week.

As FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter told The Washington Stand, "The more we learn about the use of the autopen in the previous administration the more unsettling the situation becomes. This entire saga has only harmed public confidence in the executive branch, cheapened the immense authority of the presidency, and emboldened obscure bureaucrats."

"The American people deserve to know that the actions taken by a president are done intentionally, with precision and thoughtful input, not in a singular directive, with broad discretion to implement that directive by subordinates," Carpenter concluded.