Donald Trump orders formal investigation into Joe Biden’s mental fitness, and whether his staff usurped his power

Among a flurry of dramatic new executive orders issued by Donald Trump, today, was a particularly explosive one targeting Joe Biden.

Among a flurry of dramatic new executive orders issued by Donald Trump, today, was a particularly explosive one targeting his predecessor Joe Biden.

Mr Trump is appointing two of his allies, Attorney-General Pam Pondi and White House Counsel David Warrington, to investigate “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state, and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president”.

The idea, here, is that Mr Biden’s cognitive decline while in office was so severe that staffers were essentially running the government, in his name, without his input.

The order comes shortly after the release of a book, from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, detailing the extent of Mr Biden’s decline since the death of his son Beau in 2015. The book is called Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, should you wish to read it.

Joe Biden, Donald Trump and their spouses on the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

The executive order’s text largely focuses on Mr Biden’s use of an autopen, which added his signature to documents without him needing to do it manually.

Autopens are quite common in politics due to the sheer volume of papers that need to be signed, and have been used by US presidents for decades. Mr Trump himself has admitted to using them, though in his telling, for “only very unimportant papers”.

His expressed suspicion, regarding Mr Biden, goes further. He suggests the former president was not merely delegating the affixation of his signature to documents, but didn’t even know it was happening.

“Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” Mr Trump wrote on social media in March, for example.

The text of today’s order, which requires Trump administration officials to review a series of executive actions signed during Mr Biden’s term in office, stresses that a president’s signature “holds tremendous power and responsibility”.

Joe Biden. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

“Words on paper can become the law of the land, individuals are appointed to some of the highest offices in government, national policies can be created or eliminated, and prisoners can go free. In sum, the nation is governed through presidential signatures,” it reads.

“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former president Biden’s aides abused the power of presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.

“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”

It goes on to argue that “for years, President Biden suffered from serious cognitive decline”, and nevertheless, the White House continued to conduct business in his name.

“Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the president, there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name,” the order says.

“The vast majority of Biden’s executive actions were signed using a mechanical signature pen, often called an autopen, as opposed to Biden’s own hand. This was especially true of actions taken during the second half of his presidency, when his cognitive decline had apparently become even more clear to those working most closely with him.

“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 all in his name, that would be an unconstitutional wielding of the power of the presidency.”

And naturally, this would “have implications for the legality and validity” of those actions.

Donald Trump. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Mr Trump himself is not necessarily immune from this issue, should it be taken further – already, since taking office in January, he has claimed he “didn’t sign” at least one significant executive order which clearly does bear his signature.

That being the order invoking a law from 1798, intended to be used in wartime, to justify the detention and deportation of migrants without due process.

Still. His argument here is that Mr Biden was chronically unaware of his own White House’s actions, not merely in one instance, but in many.

The investigation conducted by Ms Bondi and Mr Warrington will address several aspects of the alleged scandal, including:

– Any activity, co-ordinated or otherwise, to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health;

– Any agreements between Biden’s aides to cooperatively and falsely deem recorded videos of the president’s cognitive inability as fake;

– Any agreements between Biden’s aides to require false, public statements elevating the president’s capabilities;

– The purpose of these activities, including to assert the authorities of the president.

In addition, the investigation will consider the “circumstances surrounding” numerous executive orders, specifically those “for which the autopen was used”.

Originally published as Donald Trump orders formal investigation into Joe Biden’s mental fitness, and whether his staff usurped his power