President Trump’s administration has launched an investigation into the competence of Joe Biden when he used an autopen to grant pardons to family members and individuals on death row during his lame duck period.

Ed Martin, the staunchly pro-MAGA attorney handling pardons for Trump, announced that the Justice Department has been tasked with scrutinizing the clemency decisions made by Biden in the final days of his presidency. This includes a particularly notable pardon in December for his son, Hunter, who faced various personal challenges.

Martin’s unprecedented probe was revealed in a Monday email to staffers that was obtained by Reuters. 

The investigation aims to determine whether Biden was mentally capable and if others may have exploited him by using the AutoPen or through other means during the issuance of these pardons.

An autopen is a device used to automatically affix a signature to a document. 

Hunter Biden, who was convicted last year of three felonies over an illegal gun, and the former First Lady Jill Biden have been accused of wielding significant power over the president in his final days.

The prodigal son was treated ‘almost like a chief of staff’ despite being ‘provably, demonstrably unethical, sleazy and prone to horrible decisions,’ Jake Tapper said in a recent interview about the behind-the-scenes health cover-up.

Trump and his supporters have made a variety of claims that Biden’s use of autopen invalidated his actions because he was unaware of the orders he was signing. 

It is not known whether Biden used autopen on pardons. In March, Trump declared his predecessor’s last-minute pardons ‘void, vacant and of no further force or effect.’ He also warned that members of the House committee investigating the January 6 riots can now face prosecution.

The email stated that Martin’s investigation is focused on preemptive pardons Biden issued to several members of his family and clemency that spared 37 federal inmates from the death penalty, converting their sentences to life in prison. 

Just before he relinquished the presidency to Trump on January 20, Biden pardoned five members of his family, saying he wanted to protect them from future politically motivated investigations. 

The pardons went to Biden’s siblings James Biden, Frank Biden and Valerie Biden Owens as well as their spouses, John Owens and Sara Biden. 

Biden on December 1 pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.

Hunter faced up to 25 years in prison for the offences, although was expected to receive a much lighter punishment as his first offense. 

He had a scheduled sentencing date for the charges, but the pardon rendered that court date moot. 

Martin’s email did not specify which of the Biden family members pardons were being investigated. 

It also did not make clear who directed Martin to launch the investigation.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice for comment. 

The Constitution gives the president broad power to issue pardons to wipe away federal criminal convictions or commutations to modify sentences.

Trump himself has made extensive use of executive clemency. 

For instance, he granted clemency on January 20 to all of the nearly 1,600 of his supporters who faced criminal charges in connection with January 6, 2021, which was a failed attempt to prevent congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump. 

Martin told reporters last month that he viewed the presidential pardon power as ‘plenary,’ meaning it is absolute.

‘If you use the autopen for pardon power, I don’t think that that’s necessarily a problem,’ Martin said during a May 13 press conference, adding that he still felt the Biden pardons warranted scrutiny. 

The investigation appears designed to use the Justice Department to amplify questions about Biden’s health and mental acuity, a conversation that has intensified in recent weeks following his cancer diagnosis and a new book revealing Democratic concerns last year about Biden’s condition.

Questions have since arisen about whether Biden actually signed many of the orders under his administration amid his noticeable cognitive decline after it was revealed they were signed with an autopen.

The mechanical device signs documents rather than an individual. It has been used by presidents and lawmakers for decades. 

The Oversight Project in March ‘gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency’.

‘All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year.’

It went on to share two examples from documents that it claimed showed the use of the autopen including a document from August 2022 as well as one from December 2024 with what appear to be identical signatures.  

The group also posted an image of Biden’s signature as a comparison from when he announced he was dropping out of the race. That image shows a slight variation from the other shared documents.

DailyMail.com also examined more than 25 Biden executive orders documented on the Federal Register’s office between 2021 and 2025. It found the same signature on each.

A separate examination of 25 Trump signatures on orders on the Federal Register’s website from his first and second administrations also found the signatures were all the same.

The Oversight Project now says investigators must determine ‘who controlled the autopen and what checks there were in place’ to determine whether Biden actually made any of the orders.

Still, it questioned if that was something that could be determined in the ‘correct legal process.’ 

Biden, who is 82, last year dropped his reelection bid amid questions about his mental acuity after a disastrous presidential debate performance. Biden was the oldest person to serve as U.S. president, and Trump is the second oldest.

The former president’s closest aides have dismissed those concerns, saying Biden was fully capable of making important decisions.

No evidence has emerged to suggest that Biden did not intend to issue the pardons. 

In addition, a Justice Department memo from 2005 found it was legitimate for a subordinate to use an autopen for the president’s signature.