Trump orders probe into 'who ran the US' after Biden's alleged cognitive decline
President Donald Trump is going after the legacy of his predecessor, 82-year-old Joe Biden, ordering an investigation into whether the ex-President was really running the United States, or if White House aides orchestrated a "conspiracy" to seize executive power due to his alleged "cognitive decline".
Released late on Wednesday (June 4), the Presidential Memorandum directs investigators to probe "who ran the United States while President Biden was in office," and ascertain if aides "conspired to deceive the public about Biden's mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the President."
Many Democrat voters noticed Joe Biden's purported mental deterioration during last year's presidential debates, where the veteran politician struggled to speak clearly. Following those events, Biden compounded the perception with several missteps, such as mistakenly referring to Zelensky as "President Putin" in front of cameras.
The Trump administration is attempting to cast many of the executive actions and policy decisions made by Biden as illegitimate, claiming that staffers were using an autopen to sign documents without his input. "And you know what, they ought to find out who was using that autopen. Because whoever that person was, he or she was like the President of the United States," President Trump said in the memorandum.
An autopen is a device used to replicate people's signatures. Past presidents, including Trump himself, have frequently used one due to the large number of documents they need to sign.
He went on to say: "I think a President should sign it, not use an autopen.
"And we're going to find out whether or not he knew what the hell he was doing. ... So I think it's something that we should really look at because that's so important."
Trump accused the White House staff of making decisions on behalf of his predecessor, asserting that the American public was deliberately kept in the dark about who truly held executive power.The memo also stated: "The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts."
He went on to name Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Counsel David Warrington to look into the autopen's usage, including "who authorized its use, and the validity of the resulting Presidential policy decisions."
These allegations come at a time when Joe Biden is under scrutiny, particularly due to claims made in CNN's Jake Tapper's latest tome 'Original Sin'. In his book, Tapper suggests insider knowledge by declaring: "Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board."
Trump's memorandum asserts that Biden "issued 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench," while he also displayed "cognitive deficiencies". Trump underscored his point by highlighting that Biden "used an autopen to execute the vast majority of Biden's executive actions," during the latter half of his tenure.
With Republicans applying pressure, former Biden aides are also now facing House of Representatives' calls for interviews. James Comer, Chairman of the crucial Oversight Committee, this week summoned five Democrat staffers over an alleged "cover up" he describes as "one of the greatest scandals in our nation's history."
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