Trump pushes back on Biden's autopen defense: 'Not for signing major legislation'

President Trump cast doubt Monday on former President Joseph R. Biden’s explanation that he used the autopen to sign pardons for his family and others because of the sheer volume that had been placed on his desk.

Speaking with reporters at the White House, Mr. Trump said the autopen is used for banal correspondence with voters or children who write to the president and not for pardons or other legal matters. He continued to raise doubt that Mr. Biden, whose cognitive abilities have come into question, knew what he was signing.

“An autopen is supposed to write to a young, 7-year-old boy that writes to the president and wants to be president someday and he loves America,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s what the autopen is supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be for signing major legislation and all other things.”

“I doubt he knew. I doubt they even spoke to him about it,” Mr. Trump said. “Biden was never for open borders. Biden was never for transgender for everyone.”

Mr. Trump blasted his predecessor’s advisers as “sick people” and doubled down on his claim that Mr. Biden didn’t know what he was signing.

In a New York Times interview published Sunday, Mr. Biden accused Republicans in Congress and Mr. Trump of lying about his aides using the autopen to sign documents without his knowledge.

“They’re liars. They know it,” Mr. Biden said about claims that he was incapacitated near the end of his presidency and unaware of decisions being made on his behalf.

“I made every single one of those” decisions about clemency, he added.

In the waning days of his administration, Mr. Biden signed hundreds of pardons, preventing people in home confinement from returning to prison, reducing sentences of nonviolent drug offenders and pardoned family members as well as members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Biden said the autopen was necessary for the pardons “because there were a lot of them.”

“The autopen is, you know, is legal. As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump. But the point is that, you know, we’re talking about a whole lot of people,” he said.