Donald Trump has never been shy about political theater, but his latest move may be one of the sharpest satirical strikes yet. The president revealed that Joe Biden’s official White House portrait will feature not the man himself in all his glory, but his autopen — the mechanical signature device now at the center of a growing scandal over Biden’s presidency.
“We put up a picture of the autopen,” Trump quipped when showing off sketches of what he’s calling the “Presidential Wall of Fame.” The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese was given a glimpse, and Trump hinted the image would soon be hanging in the Rose Garden. “This is going to be very controversial,” he added with a grin.
Behind the humor lies a very serious charge. Trump and congressional Republicans are arguing that Biden’s reliance on the autopen was not just excessive, but potentially unconstitutional. Traditionally, presidents have used the device sparingly — signing condolence letters, commendations, or routine paperwork. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and even Trump himself acknowledged limited use.
Biden, however, allegedly used the autopen on nearly every major document during his presidency, from executive orders to pardons and commutations.
An Oversight Project review found almost every signature from 2021 to 2025 identical, save for the handwritten note announcing Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race. Trump argues this was not a matter of efficiency, but of concealment: a way for aides to mask Biden’s cognitive decline and govern in his stead.
In Trump’s words, “Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president. That’s wrong. It’s illegal. It’s so bad and it’s so disrespectful to our country.”
Congressional Republicans are now digging deeper. Oversight Chairman James Comer has issued subpoenas to Biden’s former top aides — Ron Klain, Anita Dunn, Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti — as well as Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor.
The central question: Who was really making decisions when the autopen was affixing Biden’s name to sweeping actions, including controversial pardons of political allies and even his own son, Hunter?
Biden, for his part, insists he “made every decision,” telling The New York Times he simply approved categories of offenders for commutations and let the device do the rest. But critics counter that the sheer volume and significance of the documents signed — from judicial appointments to foreign policy directives — makes the explanation untenable.
