US President Donald Trump has announced he is overturning pardons granted by former president Joe Biden, claiming they were signed using an autopen without Biden’s knowledge and are now "void, vacant, and of no further effect."
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said: "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen."
The Oversight Project, a division of the Heritage Foundation behind Project 2025, released a report alleging that Biden used an autopen — a mechanical device that replicates signatures — to sign nearly all documents during his presidency.
"In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them," Trump added.
He claimed that Biden was neither informed of nor approved of the necessary pardoning documents, highlighting ongoing tensions between the current and former US administrations.
Trump also suggested that those involved may have committed a crime and accused members of the "Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two-year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level."
"The fact is, they were probably responsible for the documents that were signed on their behalf without the knowledge or consent of the Worst President in the History of our Country, Crooked Joe Biden," he said.
In this episode of Inside America, Amanda Walker investigates one of the most controversial moves of Donald Trump's presidency—his sweeping pardons for those convicted in connection to the January 6th Capitol riot. We hear from a pardoned rioter who believes he was a "political prisoner," while another, Pamela Hemphill, rejects the pardon, insisting that justice must stand. With over 1,500 people charged and many convicted of violent crimes, what does this mass clemency mean for America’s justice system? Former federal prosecutor Elise Adamson and Praveen Hernandez of the Constitutional Accountability Center join us to analyse the broader implications. Does this decision embolden extremists? And is the rule of law in jeopardy?
Controversial clemencies
Biden has issued 8,064 clemency actions, the most of any US president.
Biden issued pardons to former senior Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney and other members of the congressional committee that had investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump's supporters and multiple attempts by Trump to overturn the election which he lost.
And just hours before leaving office, he granted pardons to several family members, including James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden, citing "politically motivated attacks."
This followed his December pardon of his son, Hunter, for federal gun charges related to firearm possession while under drug addiction in 2018. Biden initially vowed not to pardon his son but granted him clemency before leaving office.
Asked whether these pardons will hold, Trump said in a gaggle aboard Air Force One, "It's not my decision, that'll be up to a court. But I would say that they're null and void."
The outgoing US president might not be the only American leader to forgive family members but his action stands in stark contrast to his earlier vows not to use extraordinary power.
Biden also issued preemptive pardons to former Covid pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley, and — perhaps most controversially — to close family members including his son Hunter.
All of them had become public targets of the incoming Republican president.
Trump has repeatedly promised "retribution" against his political opponents and threatened some with criminal prosecution, and Biden said at the time that he could not "in good conscience do nothing."
On taking office this January, Trump immediately issued multiple pardons to supporters, including to about 1,500 people convicted in the storming of the Capitol building in an attempt to block certification of Biden's election victory on January 6, 2021.
