There's nothing but cruel cynicism backing the Biden autopen investigation
Trump's obsession with the use of an autopen in Biden's White House stretches back months. He claimed in March that pardons Biden signed were supposedly void because of an autopen's use. Last month, he foreshadowed to reporters that his administration would 'start looking into this whole thing with who signed this legislation. Who signed legislation opening our border? I don't think he knew.'
It's a bonkers line of inquiry, not least because autopens aren't exactly a new thing for a chief executive to use. Presidents going back to Harry Truman have had them around to sign their name to personal documents and correspondence. It became a talking point for Republicans in 2011, though, when President Barack Obama became the first to use the machine to affix his signature to a law while he was overseas. He used the autopen again while in Hawaii in 2013 to sign legislation to prevent a government shutdown.
Even then, though, it was a bit of a tempest in a teapot, legally speaking at least. Before Obama even became president, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel had determined under President George W. Bush that it was constitutionally kosher to use an autopen to sign legislation. 'We emphasize that we are not suggesting that the President may delegate the decision to approve and sign a bill,' wrote Deputy Attorney General Howard Nielson for the OLC, 'only that, having made this decision, he may direct a subordinate to affix the President's signature to the bill.' Not everyone has agreed with that assessment, but there were no legal challenges to its usage during the Obama era.
But now, this supposed secret autopen plot has gone from Truth Social posts to Justice Department investigations. Whatever probe Bondi conducts would theoretically hinge not on whether the White House autopen was used to sign official documents but on somehow proving that it was used without Biden's express authorization. Is there any evidence backing up Trump's allegation? Of course not, and Trump himself said as much in the Oval Office on Thursday.
But just because the investigation will likely go nowhere doesn't mean that there isn't ample reason for Republicans to lean into this fiction. The rush from Trump's allies to capitalize on the conspiracy theory was telling, as my colleague Steve Benen noted Thursday: 'With this in mind, the endgame is coming into focus: Trump and his party want to invalidate parts of Biden's presidency, clearing the way for, among other things, new partisan investigations into those whom Biden protected, further empowering the incumbent in the process.'
I'll add to that assessment that the focus on Biden's supposed actions — rather than on Biden himself — is cynically clever. It darkly mirrors the internal debate Democrats are still having over whether Biden's diminished capacity to run for re-election was at all purposefully hidden until it was too late. In going one step further, Trump's investigation adds an evidence-free motive to explain why Americans would be kept out of the loop. There's a thread to pull at there that might lure in some of the more disillusioned on the left who are eager to see shadowy puppet masters pulling the party's strings.
Again, none of this will amount to anything legally without concrete evidence that a law or other official document was falsely signed without Biden's consent. In both reality and the conspiracy theory being spun here, the autopen is merely a tool to be used. And in Trump's hands, it's gone from being a useful time-saver to a handy excuse to further politically persecute his predecessor's allies.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Implies Epstein Poached Virginia Giuffre From Mar-A-Lago Spa: 'He Stole Her'
President Donald Trump suggested he fell off with Jeffrey Epstein because the disgraced financier 'stole' Virginia Giuffre as an employee from his Mar-a-Lago spa. The president was speaking to reporters Tuesday when he was asked for further details on his split with onetime pal Epstein. On Monday, Trump admitted that the fracture in their relationship was because Epstein hired some of his workers from his Florida resort, contradicting previous White House explanations that it was because the convicted sex offender was a 'creep.' A day later, the president was asked whether Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, was one of the people 'stolen.' 'I don't know,' Trump said. 'I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way that she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.' Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, met Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell while she was working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club as a teenager in 2000. Maxwell offered Giuffre a job as Epstein's masseuse, which led to years of sex trafficking and abuse. Giuffre, who died aged 41, became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors. She sued Epstein and Maxwell, then took her accusations public, and also accused Prince Andrew of abusing her. A photo of Giuffre as a 17-year-old posing with the British royal and Maxwell ― which was taken by Epstein ― became infamous. Andrew denied her allegations and settled a lawsuit out of court. In 2019, Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and later died in custody. Maxwell, a British socialite, was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for her role in helping Epstein recruit underage girls for sexual abuse. The Epstein scandal continues to engulf the Trump presidency weeks after the Department of Justice failed to release more documents on the tycoon. A two-page DOJ memo published July 7 stated there was no evidence of a 'client list' of powerful figures Epstein could potentially blackmail. A Wall Street Journal story published on July 17, which detailed a lewd birthday letter sent by Trump to Epstein, kept the controversy in the headlines. Trump dismissed the letter as a fake, and sued reporters behind the story and the paper's owner. On Tuesday, Trump provided more details on his rift with Epstein, explaining that 'people were taken out of the spa' at Mar-a-Lago. Trump said: 'I heard about it, I told him. I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa.' I don't want him taking people. And he was 'fine.' And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, 'Out of here.'' Related... Trump Gives Totally Different Answer Than White House For Epstein Split Trump Wants Murdoch Swiftly Deposed Over Epstein Story Because Of Age And Health 'Yikes': Critics Claim Trump Let Out Epic 'Freudian Slip' About Jeffrey Epstein
Chicago Tribune
12 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Japan trade deal is more than meets the eye
The Trump administration has reached an important economic agreement with Japan. International trade and finance today are complicated, and therefore, agreements can be difficult to sum up briefly. In this case, there is also significant background, somewhat different from our history with Europe, that bears in important ways on the specifics of the accord. Japan has committed to provide $550 billion in new funding to the United States in the form of investment, loans and loan guarantees. President Donald Trump is justified in declaring that the agreement represents a major victory for his approach of negotiating concessions from other nations, especially major partners in Asia and Europe. However, the agreement is also precisely in line with the long-term strategy of Japan to sidestep U.S. restrictions on direct imports by emphasizing investment in our country. This dates from the Reagan administration, years when trade and other frictions between Tokyo and Washington were at a peak. Reagan officials pressed their counterparts in Japan to accept what were termed 'voluntary export agreements,' meaning in fact a ceiling on exports to the U.S. Automobiles were a high priority, reflecting the fact that the traditional Big Three U.S. auto manufacturers — American Motors (and successor Chrysler), Ford and GM — were suffering from growing, increasingly successful competition from Japan and also Europe. Nissan, Toyota, Fiat, Volkswagen and other foreign firms were making great inroads in North America. Japanese car manufacturers responded to the new, significant challenge represented by the U.S. voluntary export agreements in two ways. First, their export profiles were changed. Emphasis on compact cars was shifted to a new emphasis on larger, more luxurious models. Toyota's transformation is especially striking in this regard. Second, tremendous new emphasis was given to building manufacturing facilities within the United States. The second dimension effectively embedded foreign manufacturers in the U.S, establishing a strategic position that would greatly benefit foreign vehicle manufacturers over the long term. President Trump has a strong personal interest in, indeed fascination with, traditional economic tariffs. However, beginning with the Bretton Woods institutions, initially defined by the Allied powers at a New Hampshire conference in 1944, such trade tariffs have become generally regulated and stabilized at relatively low levels. Significant tariff wars, along with competitive currency devaluations, were rightly viewed as major contributing factors to interwar economic dislocations, capped by the Great Depression. This, in turn spawned totalitarian dictatorships and led to World War II. The creation of the United Nations in 1945 institutionalized efforts to maintain greater international stability. The UN has been an umbrella for the Bretton Woods institutions – the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), now the World Trade Organization (WTO), along with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The end of the Cold War permitted the UN family of institutions to become truly global. The rise of China, and serious competition with the United States that encompasses ideological and military as well as economic dimensions, places a premium on close, positive cooperation with other Asia powers. Japan along with India and South Korea, and the special case of Taiwan, are all lynchpin components important to the containment effort. Farsighted U.S. foreign policies since World War II created durable ties with economically and militarily significant nations in East and South Asia. The nations cited are also today functioning democracies. Japan's shrewd, flexible adjustment to changing U.S. political winds over the long term is also fundamentally important.
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump says Wall Street Journal wants to settle defamation lawsuit
President Trump on Tuesday claimed that the Wall Street Journal wants to settle the defamation lawsuit he filed after the outlet reported on a letter Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein. 'It's in the lawyer's hands. I've been treated very unfairly by The Wall Street Journal,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked about his lawyers efforts to expedite a deposition from the Journal's owner, Rupert Murdoch. 'They are talking to us about doing something, but we'll see what happens. Maybe, they would like us to drop that,' Trump said, adding 'they want to settle it.' Trump's suit against the Journal claims that the Epstein story caused 'overwhelming financial and reputational harm' for the president and demands billions in damages. The president has denied writing the letter detailed in the Journal's reporting, an alleged 2003 birthday message to the late sex offender. According to the outlet, the message appears to bear Trump's signature and included a suggestive drawing. The White House last week barred the Journal from taking part in Trump's travels to Scotland amid the tensions, drawing pushback from the White House Correspondents' Association. The judge in the ongoing matter ruled that the lawyers for Murdoch, the billionaire conservative media mogul with whom Trump has feuded in the past, have until Aug. 4 to respond to the request from Trump's team. Trump has snagged settlements against other major news outlets in recent months as his administration feuds with national media. CBS earlier this month settled for $16 million after the president sued over a '60 Minutes' interview with then-Vice President Harris during the 2024 cycle. And late last year, ABC settled for $15 million a defamation lawsuit Trump filed over an anchor's mischaracterization of a jury verdict finding the president liable for sexual abuse.
