The committee’s Republican majority said today that it found no record that Biden approved executive actions in several instances, including ones related to presidential pardons.
They also said they found Biden’s autopen - a mechanical device that can replicate signatures and that presidents often use to quickly sign documents - may have been used to sign off on actions without his knowledge.
The majority did not provide evidence to support these conclusions, writing that its analysis was based on the testimony of more than a dozen Biden aides.
In that testimony, senior Biden officials repeatedly stated that Biden approved of each executive action authorised during his administration, that the autopen was not used incorrectly and that Biden did not show any signs of being unable to fulfil his presidential duties.
The committee’s Democratic minority said the testimony of the Biden administration witnesses interviewed during the investigation does not support the Republican conclusions.
The allegations brought by Trump and Republicans about Biden’s use of the autopen prompted a rare rebuke earlier this year from the former president, who told the New York Times he “made every decision”.
A spokesperson for Biden dismissed the findings of the GOP-led Oversight report, saying in a statement that “there was no conspiracy, no cover-up and no wrongdoing”.
“This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency,” the spokesperson said.
A statement released by Representative Robert Garcia (California), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, dismissed what he characterised as a “sham investigation”.
“[E]very White House official testified President Biden fully executed his duties as President of the US,” Garcia wrote. “The testimonies also make it clear the former President authorised every executive order, pardon, and use of the autopen.”
Biden has long been the target of scrutiny by the House Oversight Committee, where Trump ally Representative James Comer (Kentucky) has been the top-ranking Republican since 2020.
Since becoming chairman in 2023, Comer has pushed inquiries into Biden’s inner circle, including a look into the finances of Biden’s family members. An impeachment inquiry led by Comer and other House Republicans into whether Biden abused his office and sought to enrich his family ultimately collapsed last year.
The new Republican-led report states that unless the Biden administration can prove the president approved a given action, the committee “deems those actions taken through use of the autopen as void”, and that it “finds numerous executive actions - particularly clemency actions - taken during the Biden Administration were illegitimate”.
The committee does not have the power to undo executive actions.
The committee also sent a letter to Attorney-General Pam Bondi asking the Justice Department to investigate every executive action taken during the Biden administration to determine whether Biden gave his approval, and to investigate whether any legal consequences should follow from the committee’s findings.
In their report, Democrats cast the investigation as a partisan effort to persecute Trump’s political enemies.
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