President Donald Trump suggested that former President Joe Biden did not actually issue his executive orders, following his order to investigate Biden and his administration's alleged autopen use.
"He was never for open borders," Trump said Thursday about his predecessor, as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for a meeting in the Oval Office. "He was never for men playing in women's sports. I mean, he changed."
"Whoever used the autopen was the president," Trump added.
Trump on Wednesday ordered his White House counsel and Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Biden and his aides to question whether some of Biden's presidential acts were invalid because his staff, according to unsubstantiated MAGA theories, used his authority via autopen without his knowledge. Biden denounced the claims as "ridiculous and false," asserting that he "made the decisions" on presidential matters during his term.
"The biggest scandal of the last many years is the autopen and who's using it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
In his comments, Trump did relegate one appropriate use for an autopen:
"Autopen, to me, are used when thousands of letters come in from young people all over the country, and you want to get them back," Trump conceded. "I'd like to do it myself, but you can't do it. To me, that's where autopens start and stop."
"I can tell autopen easily," he said. "I can look at it. Like two little pinholes. From pulling the paper."
