In a major shakeup to President Joe Biden’s massive autopen scandal, a former top aide to the Biden family testified Tuesday that she directed an automatic signature tool to sign official documents on the president’s behalf for nearly two years.
Republicans claim that Biden’s cognitive decline was so severe that it invalidates many of the actions of his presidency, and that aides’ use of the autopen to force his signature could represent a Constitutional crisis.
Neera Tanden, who served as Biden’s domestic policy chief and staff secretary from 2021 to 2023, told the House Oversight Committee that she was authorized by the White House to use the autopen for pardons, memos, and other official White House documents on behalf of Biden.
“As staff secretary, I was responsible for handling the flow of documents to and from the president,” Tanden testified. “I was also authorized to direct that autopen signatures be affixed to certain categories of documents.”
During more than five hours of testimony, Tanden described an approval process where she would “send decision memos to members of the President’s inner circle” but said she “had no visibility of what occurred between sending the memo and receiving it back with approval.”
The shocking testimony prompted Rep. Byron Donalds, R-F.L., to claim the admission “invalidates so much of the Biden presidency.”
“Quite frankly, it will be great news for the American people because it will help us from digging out from his mess that he left the country in. So that’s the key question. Was he mentally capable to understand what was going in front of the autopen?” Donalds said on Newsmax Wednesday.
“If the president didn’t know what was being signed, then it actually invalidates not only many of his orders, but … a lot of bills that went through,” Donalds said.
“Nobody really knows right now what Joe Biden’s mental capability was,” he said.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Tanden’s testimony “raises serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House amid the President’s obvious decline.”
“Ms. Tanden testified that she had minimal interaction with President Biden despite wielding tremendous authority,” Comer said.
Democrats on the committee disputed Republican characterizations of Tanden’s testimony. A minority committee member called Republican claims “a lie,” and a former White House staffer said Biden provided “written sign off on every executive action she presented him with.”
Tanden’s attorney, Michael Bromwich, also claimed that “the autopen was used only after the President personally approved the decision.”
“Aides at no time signed these documents on President Biden’s behalf,” Bromwich said.
Tanden told lawmakers that the autopen system was used for years, and that she was instructedd to employ “that system throughout my tenure as staff secretary.” She testified that she regularly used the autopen to sign documents for Biden from October 2021 to May 2023, when Tanden was succeeded by Annie Tomasini.
The testimony is part of a broader Republican investigation into what they call a “cover-up” of Biden’s cognitive decline. The committee has also sought testimony from Anthony Bernal, former assistant to the president and senior advisor to former First Lady Jill Biden, who has been described as her “work husband.”
After the White House waived executive privilege for Bernal, he refused to appear for sworn testimony, prompting the committee to announce plans for an immediate subpoena.
“With no privilege left to hide behind, Mr. Bernal is now running scared, desperate to bury the truth,” Comer said. “The American people deserve answers and accountability, and the Oversight Committee will not tolerate this obstruction.”
Donalds said Biden’s poor debate performance one year ago was proof that the autopen was being misused, and that “you could tell he was not mentally with us. He was not able to discharge his duties.”