Trump calls Biden last-minute pardons ‘void’ because of ‘autopen’ usage

US President Donald Trump said his predecessor's 11th-hour pardons of members of Congress who investigated the January 6 insurrection were "void, vacant and of no further force or effect", signalling his administration may attempt to upend more than a century of law and practice for presidential pardons.

According to Report, in a statement on his Truth Social platform just after midnight on March 17, Trump said the pardons were void because then President Joe Biden signed them with an autopen.

His comments follow similar arguments from the conservative Heritage Foundation that Biden used an autopen based on seemingly identical signatures found on several Biden documents.

Trump, in his Truth Social post, did not present any evidence.

The pardon power has long been considered one of the most absolute powers a president has, and courts have been reluctant to put any limits on how they are granted.