Mike Howell observed a letter from the Missouri Attorney General questioning President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to sign pardons and executive orders with “psychic ability.”
Howell, executive director of the Surveillance Project under the Conservative Heritage Foundation, saw an opportunity for critique in this letter. After comparing Biden’s signatures on various official documents for months, he noticed similarities in many of them. Before boarding his flight, Howell made a controversial post he later claimed he conspired with X about.
Critics of Biden’s fitness questioned his appointments, but so far, no evidence has surfaced to suggest that he disagreed with any actions he has taken.
Upon landing, Howell’s post gained traction rapidly. Within days, a theory emerged that a shadowy, deep state agent was secretly running the country on behalf of Biden, using mechanical means to achieve sinister goals, sparking fury.
Autoopen is a machine that replicates a person’s actual signature using a real pen. Politicians have been using such devices for decades with little public interest. Data from the Media Tracker revealed that the term was mentioned 49 times in US television, radio, and podcasts in the first two months of the year, spiking to 6,188 mentions on March 17th alone.
Right-wing media outlets are now extensively covering topics related to wet signatures and autopen technology. They focus particularly on Biden’s signatures on pardons for political allies like California Democrats Adam Schiff and Hunter Biden, casting doubt on the former president’s mental acuity and his awareness of the documents he signs.
President Trump himself has criticized Biden’s use of autopens, questioning the validity of the pardons granted without providing evidence, suggesting they were void. Trump has also used an autopen in the past, raising doubts yet again during an Oval office press conference.
Biden has not confirmed whether he personally signed all the pardons, but a senior aide mentioned they were automated during his administration. A Biden spokesperson has yet to comment on the matter.
There are no federal laws prohibiting the use of autopens, as noted by the Justice Department. The president has the authority to instruct subordinates to affix his signature to a bill. Legal experts question the president’s ability to revoke a pardon based on notes from 1929 suggesting a presidential signature is not essential for a pardon to be valid.
The rise of speculative and legally dubious theories promoted by pro-Trump activists highlights the efficiency of today’s right-wing media environment.
The origins of the conspiracy theory are uncertain, but a post on the 4chan message board in October referencing autopens and Biden may have contributed to its spread.
Howell’s Surveillance Project, established in 2022 by the Heritage Foundation, has been deeply involved in researching this topic.
Former Congressman Jason Chaffetz, now a visiting fellow at the Surveillance Project, proposed collecting copies of presidential documents signed by Biden to verify signature authenticity.
Staff members began compiling documents and requesting copies of resolutions and bills from the National Archives after Biden’s withdrawal from the race, but the project gained urgency when Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s letter raised concerns about the enforcement orders and pardons signed by Biden.
Howell was surprised by Bailey’s letter’s alignment with his signature study and considered it a stroke of luck.
“It was eighth on the to-do list,” Howell remarked. “Then AG Bailey drops his letter and it shoots to the top.”
Howell’s thread received over 3 million views, sparking widespread discussions on conservative talk radio within hours.
The topic quickly spread to popular podcasts and cable news programs, with a focus on Biden’s autopen, especially concerning pardons for political allies.
The project highlighted the vulnerability of amnesty documents, releasing an analysis of Biden’s signatures on five amnesties issued on his final day in office.
Trump criticized Biden’s use of autopens as disrespectful to the presidency and potentially invalid at a Justice Department press conference following the release of the Surveillance Project’s findings on pardons.
Critics, including conservative jurist Jonathan Turley, dismissed the idea of nullifying pardons based on autopen usage, citing the president’s authority to use such tools and lack of concrete evidence for a conspiracy against Biden.
Howell believes the question can only be resolved in court and continues his work, publishing a legal memo on Autopens and planning to retrieve more documents signed by Biden for further analysis by a forensic handwriting expert.
“We’re preparing for all possibilities,” Howell concluded.
Source: www.nytimes.com
