White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sparred with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins on the issue of whether former President Joe Biden was aware of the documents he was signing while in office.
Collins asked Leavitt during a Monday news conference whether President Donald Trump, who noted that many Biden executive orders were signed with an autopen, was told by attorneys that he has the authority to reverse a pardon signed by that autopen.
Leavitt answered that Trump was “begging the question” that “a lot of journalists in this room should be asking.”
“The president was raising the point that, did the president even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?” Leavitt answered.
“That’s not just the president or me raising those questions, Kaitlan,” she continued, noting that one report from the New York Post said even Biden administration officials had the same concerns.
“I think it’s a question that everybody in this room should be looking into,” she added.
Collins retorted that Biden was on the record discussing the preemptive pardons.
🚨 WATCH: Karoline Leavitt calls out CNN’s Kaitlan Collins questioning Trump’s query on whether Biden was aware his signature on pardons was being stamped by autopen:
“Is there any evidence that he wasn’t aware of it?”
“You’re a reporter. You should find out.” pic.twitter.com/PBYI7mCLVA
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) March 17, 2025
Leavitt then asked whether he was “aware of his signature being used on every single pardon.”
Do you approve of Karoline Leavitt’s performance as White House press secretary?
“Is there any evidence … that he wasn’t aware of it?” Collins responded.
“You’re a reporter. You should find out,” Leavitt shot back.
The controversy over the autopen signatures comes after the Oversight Project, an initiative of the Heritage Foundation, learned that the pardons for the Biden family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion “have the same exact Biden autopen signature.”
🚨 Autopen Update 🚨
We analyzed Biden’s Jan. 19, 2025 “pardons” for:-Biden Family Members
-Anthony Fauci
-General Milley
-J6 Committee
-Gerald LunderganThey all have the same exact Biden autopen signature https://t.co/jc6mkx37il pic.twitter.com/8VeBDwLNv7
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 11, 2025
The group also noted that a pardon issued on Dec. 30, 2022, via autopen came while Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The document said, it was “Signed in the City of Washington.”
🚨Biden Autopen Pardons on VACATION?🚨
Who is behind this autopen on 12/30/2022 that pardoned six criminals (with the exact same autopen signature) while Joe Biden was vacationing and golfing in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
Note they all say they are “Signed in the City of… https://t.co/b0SEtalm4N pic.twitter.com/dN7BbVOiVj
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 10, 2025
The Oversight Project previously shared a number of documents in the federal register that “used the same autopen signature.”
The notable exception was “the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year.”
🚨WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY🚨
We 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 the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the… https://t.co/CC3oJUkNr4 pic.twitter.com/mtNrZsALDu
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) March 6, 2025
Leavitt noted that the Biden presidency was marked by questions about the commander-in-chief’s cognitive health, especially given a number of public blunders.
Biden stepped down from the campaign last summer in the aftermath of a debate with Trump, during which many legacy media outlets started to acknowledge the issue.
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