Joe Biden has lashed out at President Donald Trump’s “ridiculous and false” claims that he was not making his own decisions while in the White House.
The 82-year-old former president issued the rebuke after his successor launched a probe into Biden’s alleged “cognitive decline” while in office and whether his team took advantage of his diminishing mental state to sign off on a number of actions using an autopen.
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said in a statement distributed to multiple outlets. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
He added: “This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, who are pushing disastrous legislation that would slash essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families—all to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”
Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi and David Warrington, the White House counsel, to lead the investigation into whether Biden’s team “purposefully shielded” the Democrat’s declining mental acuity from the public.
The order alleges, without evidence, that it has become “increasingly apparent” that Biden’s aides used the autopen to sign off on executive actions in order to “conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.”
The autopen is a mechanical device that replicates a person’s signature, allowing presidents to sign off on multiple executive actions.
“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” the memo said.
Trump has been pushing the theory that Biden didn’t personally sign the sweeping pardons issued just before leaving office, including one for his son, Hunter Biden, and preemptive pardons for other family members.
His new order also points to Biden’s appointment of 235 federal judges and the commutation of sentences for “37 of the 40 most vile and monstrous criminals” on death row as vindication for the investigation.
“Given clear indications that President Biden lacked the capacity to exercise his Presidential authority, if his advisors secretly used the mechanical signature pen to conceal this incapacity while taking radical executive actions in his name, that would constitute an unconstitutional wielding of presidential power,” the memo said.
The Justice Department is conducting its own review of Biden’s pardons for his family and death row inmates. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin reportedly directed staff to examine whether Biden was “competent” at the time or if others were “taking advantage of him through use of AutoPen or other means.”
Biden’s mental and physical fitness once again came under scrutiny following bombshell claims in Original Sin, a new book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson. Biden also recently announced he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Trump—who is just three years younger than Biden—suggested Biden’s team manipulated him into pushing for an “open border” policy as president, as this was in contrast to the Democrat’s long-standing views.
“He didn’t approve this stuff, because when Joe Biden was with it, he would never have approved it,” Trump told reporters at the Capitol on May 20.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
