【Text by Observer Net, Chen Sijia】Last month, U.S. President Trump signed a memo requiring an investigation into "cognitive decline" during former President Biden's term, including whether an automatic signing pen was used instead of Biden himself to sign pardons and other documents, and whether Biden administration officials "conspired to conceal Biden's health condition".

According to a July 13 report by the New York Times, in response to Trump's accusations, Biden stated that he did use an automatic signing pen to sign pardons, but each decision was made by himself. Biden criticized Trump as a "liar", saying that Republicans raised the issue of the automatic signing pen to "distract the public attention".

Biden admitted to the New York Times that due to the large number of documents, he used an automatic signing pen to sign pardons. He explained, "You know, the automatic signing pen is legal. You also know, other presidents have used it, including Trump. But the key thing is, you know, we're talking about a lot of people."

Biden said he personally made every pardon decision, and "preventive" pardons for relatives were to prevent Trump from taking retaliatory measures after taking office, "I know he (Trump) is very vengeful. I mean, everyone knows how strong his desire for revenge is. So we knew they would do things like this now."

Photo: Former U.S. President Biden, Visual China

Biden accused Trump of being a "liar", and he believed that Republicans raised the issue of the automatic signing pen to divert public attention, "They almost always lie about everything they do. The best thing they can do is try to shift the focus to other things. I think that's what's going on with this issue."

However, Biden's aides confirmed to the New York Times that Biden did not personally approve the list of pardons applicable to a large number of people. The report said that after extensive discussions on various possible criteria, Biden approved the standards for determining which criminals were eligible for clemency.

A former aide revealed that even after Biden made his decision, the Federal Bureau of Prisons continued to provide additional information about specific prisoners, leading to minor changes in the clemency list. This former aide said that at the time, White House officials did not let Biden continue to sign the revised version, but instead used an automatic signing pen to sign the final version, considering it "routine procedure".

Before leaving office, Biden issued multiple clemency orders, including reducing the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates. On January 20, Biden signed several pardons before Trump took office as U.S. president, "preventively" pardoning several relatives, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and members of the House "Capitol Riot" special investigation committee.

However, Trump questioned these pardons. On June 4 local time, Trump ordered an investigation into "cognitive decline" during Biden's term, including whether an automatic signing pen was used instead of Biden himself to sign pardons and other documents, and whether Biden administration officials "conspired to conceal Biden's health condition".

At the time, Biden responded in a statement: "Let me be clear: I made these decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions on pardons, executive orders, legislation, and announcements. Any suggestion that I didn't make the decisions is absurd and wrong."

The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Department of Justice has not yet responded to the progress of the related investigation.

CNN previously pointed out that for the past 20 years, the White House has had a habit of using an automatic signing pen to sign documents. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the legality of the president using an automatic signing pen, and the department concluded at the time that even if the president did not personally sign the bill, the bill could still have legal effect, "as long as the president personally makes the decision to approve and sign the bill, he is correctly using his power".

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7526881281846542883/

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