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Trump says he has revoked Biden’s autopen pardons: But can he do it?

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, claims that he has revoked all of his predecessor’s pardons and commutations using an autopen.

On Tuesday evening, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, “Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts signed by the now infamous and unauthorised ‘Autopen,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect.”

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Anybody who receives “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other legal document signed, please be informed that the document has been completely and legally terminated and has no legal effect, he said.

However, legal experts contend that the president’s decision is unenforceable.

What documents did Biden sign with the autopen, who will be affected, and is Trump’s move legal?

What documents did Biden and his autopen sign?

Trump has argued on numerous occasions that Biden’s use of the autopen, a mechanical device that makes it possible to sign documents without holding a hand, was indicative of the former president’s physical and mental frailty.

According to the non-partisan Pew Research Center, Biden has issued a record 4,245 clemency acts in his four years in office, more than any other US president since the start of the 20th century.

The majority of these actions involved sentence reductions or commutations. Although he only issued 80 individual pardons, which was the second-lowest number over the same time period, he was more well-known for enacting “pardons by proclamation,” which affected a wide range of people.

According to the Pew Research Center, these included pardons by proclamation for former military personnel who had been found guilty of abusing a gay sex ban, which has since been overturned.

However, it is unclear how many and which pardons and commutations Biden’s orders were executed using an autopen.

Trump does not have the authority to revoke pardons or commutations, according to Bernadette Miller, a Stanford University expert on US and UK constitutional law.

This declaration is legally unenforceable. Any laws or pardons that Biden has authorized remain effective. An executive order, she said, “would be the only exception that an executive order can have until it is overturned by the same president or another president.”

Trump might revoke those orders, so presumably this statement would undo any such orders. However, laws and pardons are still effective.

A separate study from PolitiFact, a fact-checking website run by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, found that “there is no constitutional mechanism for overturning pardons, and an 1869 judicial ruling determined that a pardon is final.”

According to PolitiFact, the US Constitution does not require a pardon to be formally endorsed by hand.

Who might be impacted by Trump’s action?

Trump has previously argued that autopen signed a number of “preemptive” pardons that Biden gave US legislators as part of their investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

The Capitol was attacked by a mob of Trump supporters who claimed the 2020 election was a fraud and were trying to stop Biden from being elected president by Congress. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly failed to demonstrate widespread election fraud.

Republicans who opted to investigate Trump, such as ex-members of Congress Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are seen by the US president and his allies as traitors of their movement.

Because they were issued by Autopen, Trump claimed on Truth Social in March that these legislators’ pardons were “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.”

Biden was the first to employ an autopen.

According to PolitiFact, Biden was not the only US president to rely on an autopen.

Similar devices have been around for the majority of American history, but autopens’s design has changed as technology has developed.

The third US president, Thomas Jefferson, used a technique known as a polygraph, which is a pair of pens rigged so that the second can imitate the first’s actions.

John F. Kennedy used a more contemporary version of the autopen in the early 1960s. Barack Obama has occasionally used autopens, more recently.

Venezuela denounces US-ordered ‘forced sale’ of oil company Citgo

Colombia’s Petro invites Trump to cocaine lab demolition amid attack threat

After Trump warned that any nation that imports drugs into the United States could be attacked, “not just Venezuela,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro has invited US President Donald Trump to visit his country and take part in the destruction of cocaine laboratories.

Trump criticized Colombia for producing cocaine and selling it into the US during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the White House.

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“I’ve heard that Colombia, the nation of Colombia, produces cocaine. Trump claimed that they have cocaine factories, okay, and then sell it to us.

He said, “Anyone who does that and sells it into our country is attacked.”

Petro quickly responded to Trump by claiming that “without missiles” his government had destroyed 18,400 cocaine labs.

“Come to Colombia, Mr. Trump,” Petro remarked.

To stop cocaine from reaching the US, Petro said, “Come with me, and I’ll show you how they are destroyed, one laboratory every 40 minutes.”

Petro cautioned against “threatening Colombia’s sovereignty,” which he claimed would “wake up a Jaguar.”

Avoid compromising two centuries of diplomatic relations. You have already slandered me; don’t go back in that direction, Petro said, making an apparent reference to Trump’s earlier claims that the Colombian leader was a part of the drug trade.

Colombia is the only nation that has assisted in preventing the influx of thousands of tonnes of cocaine from being consumed by North Americans, Petro said.

Colombia continues to be the main gateway to the US market for cocaine, with 84 percent of the cocaine seized there in 2024 coming from Colombia.

At least 83 people were killed when Trump’s administration launched missile attacks on ships in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea while using the pretext to stop the flow of drugs to the US from Venezuela.

Trump was seated next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is under investigation for a so-called “double-tap” strike in September that left two survivors of an earlier US attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, which had already killed nine people, as he made his remarks about the expansion of attacks against narcotics-exporting nations.

According to legal experts, the second killing of the two survivors as they clung to the wreckage of the devasted vessel could have been a war crime, and both Democrat and Republican lawmakers have pledged to look into the circumstances surrounding the killings.

Hegseth defended the secondary strike, but he claimed on Tuesday that he had not witnessed the second deadly US attack or the first attack despite having witnessed the first one on the suspected drug smuggling vessel in person.

The Pentagon director claimed that he only learned shortly after the second strike on survivors from US Admiral Frank Bradley, the head of special operations command.

US defence chief says he did not see survivors before follow-up boat strike

Prior to the second deadly strike, which sparked calls for an investigation into possible war crimes, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has denied seeing any survivors from a military strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.

Hegseth claimed at a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday that he had witnessed the contentious follow-up strike but had not witnessed the initial strike.

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At the meeting presided over by President Donald Trump, Hegseth stated, “We have a lot of things to do at the Department of War, so I didn’t stick around.” Despite the president’s claim that he is a peacemaker and has broken numerous ceasefire agreements, the Trump administration refers to the department as the “Department of War.”

Hegseth claimed that Admiral Frank Bradley, who was the mission commander for the September 2 attacks and heads special operations in the US military, had made the “right call” to launch the second strike and “destroy the threat.”

Hegseth continued, noting that the strike’s location had been obscured by fire and smoke. “I did not personally see survivors,” he said.

The fog of war refers to this.

Hegseth claimed that Bradley was fully supported by the Trump administration and that it had given commanders the authority to carry out “difficult things on behalf of the American people in the dead of night.”

Hegseth’s remarks came as Democrats and legal experts demanded more transparency regarding the double-tap strike, which Democrats and legal experts have deemed to be a likely war crime.

According to US Senator Chris Van Hollen, who spoke on X about Hegseth’s previous work as a host on Fox News, “Secretary Talk Show host may have been experiencing the “folk of war” [#]].

“Peter Hegseth is unfit to serve, and one thing is for certain.” He must leave now.

Since The Washington Post reported last week that military commanders had launched a second strike on two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage of the ship in accordance with his command to ensure that no one was left alive, Hegseth’s reputation has grown.

Hegseth criticized The Washington Post report as “fake news,” “fabricated,” and “inflammatory,” citing two unnamed people with whom the matter had been a source of conversation.

The Pentagon’s own book on the “laws of war” declares that firing orders against survivors of shipwrecked vessels “clearly illegal.”

In a contentious military operation to combat alleged drug traffickers, the Trump administration has launched strikes on at least 22 vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.

The strikes, which are considered extrajudicial killings and are against international law, have claimed the lives of at least 83 people.

Trump administration threatens to withhold food assistance from 21 states

Democratic states that are currently contesting a government order to turn over information about recipients of food assistance have threatened to do so under the direction of United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

Rollins spoke about the ongoing lawsuit, which pits US President Donald Trump’s administration against 21 states and the District of Columbia, on Tuesday at his final cabinet meeting of the year.

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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has resisted that states provide details about who receives funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under Trump.

SNAP, a term used to describe food stamps, aids low-income households in purchasing groceries. By the year 2024, nearly 41.7 million people in the US were relying on the program, or nearly 12% of the population.

According to the USDA’s order, states would be required to provide federal authorities with information such as birth dates, birth dates, and home addresses. Critics worry that transferring this kind of data could infringe on privacy.

However, Rollins stated to the cabinet that the information was necessary to “protect the American taxpayer” and to address alleged fraud.

We requested that all states provide their data to the federal government for the first time in order to ensure that those who actually need food stamps are receiving them.

She claimed that partisan politics might be at play in the opposition to her demand.

“Yes, 69 states responded. The red states, it seems, are unexpected. All of that information about fraud comes from there, Rollins continued. “But 21 states, including the blue states of California, New York, and Minnesota, continue to refuse.”

In consequence, Rollins claims that those states with Democratic ties would no longer receive federal aid for their SNAP recipients.

So, she said, “we have started and will begin stopping moving federal funds into those states until they comply” as of the following week.

Rollins’ ability to carry out her threat is unsure.

A temporary restraining order was issued in a US district court in northern California in September to stop the government from implementing its data request. A temporary injunction was granted once more in October after a second hearing on the matter was held.

After the Supreme Court’s decision in October, California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, stated in a statement that “the President is trying to hijack a nutrition program to fuel his mass surveillance agenda.

“We won’t allow that to occur,” he said. “Neither on our watch nor within our communities.”

Some of the most senior Democrats’ outraged after the lawsuit’s states announced on Tuesday that federal SNAP funds would be suspended.

“Genuine question: Why is the Trump administration so hostile toward people who are hungry?” Rollins’ remarks were shared by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in a social media post.

The Trump administration’s plan is also being denounced by the House Agriculture Committee, which also issued a statement.

Trump and Rollins have once more allegedly threatened to withhold federal funds. Trump continues to use the term “hunger,” but SNAP has one of the lowest fraud rates of any government program.

Rollins responded on social media, claiming that the states were trying to “protect their bribery schemes,” a claim that was made without any supporting evidence.

It’s that easy, she wrote, “No DATA, NO MONEY.” A state won’t receive any money from the federal SNAP administrative budget if it doesn’t share information about criminal use of SNAP benefits.

Using SNAP as a tool?

In a report released last year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that 11.7% of SNAP benefits were “improper” in the fiscal year 2023. This included incorrect payments of about $10.5 billion.

However, according to the report, some of those “improper” disbursements were overreported and underreported to legitimate recipients.

Additionally, the Trump administration has attempted to suspend SNAP funds previously with Tuesday’s threat.

The USDA announced that it would not be paying SNAP benefits for the month of November during the government shutdown, which lasted for an unprecedented 43 days.

Numerous states sued, accusing the Trump administration of using food aid to compel Democratic lawmakers to approve the budget.

The states were given the order to resume funding by two federal courts. The Supreme Court subsequently halted the lower courts’ decisions after the Trump administration filed an appeal.

Freddy Brazier hits back at pregnant ex’s drug claims in scathing rebuke

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The TV star has now had his say in the allegations that Freddy Brazier, Jade Goody’s son, verbally abused Holly Swinburn, who is pregnant with his child.

Freddy Brazier has branded his ex girlfriend’s allegations he engaged in drug-fuelled parties with other girls as “sick” lies.

The TV star, 21, said Holly Swinburn’s claims could affect his work, and relationship with his child when the baby is born. Holly, 22, is heavily pregnant with Freddy’s first child, a prospect about which Freddy gushed in October.

But the pair since ended their relationship, which this week Holly claimed was as a result of Freddy throwing a party at her flat while she was away on holiday with her family. However, he has now hit out at the accusations, reportedly telling friends: “No orgy has been had in our flat. It certainly wasn’t some sort of drug party either, we did go up to our flat and had a spliff and that’s it, and then I told everyone it was time to go.

One of my coworkers left his ID there, suggesting that there was a deeper issue, but we actually smoked a joint before they all left. “

READ MORE: Jeff Brazier and son Freddy support each other at first event since romance splitsREAD MORE: Freddy Brazier and Jeff Brazier’s ‘war that will never end’ takes fresh twist

She continued, “She’s already talking about doing something else, or speaking out again,” Freddy continued. She has already told me this this week, and it’s only a matter of time before she does. She’s claiming that her statements could cost me jobs and hurt my relationship with my child when they are born. He added that the allegations were “sick” and false.

Holly claimed in an interview this week that Freddy’s father, Jeff, has been supporting her in the controversy and that she now wants to concentrate on raising her unborn child alone. Freddy reacted incredulously, saying, “I don’t like that Dad is apparently supporting Holly.” “

TV presenter Jeff himself has recently split with his wife Kate Dwyer after seven years of marriage and twelve years of an on-and-off relationship. It was said this was, in part, due to how Freddy and his 22-year-old brother Bobby, “never truly accepted her as stepmum”.

Continue reading the article below.

But Freddy and Holly’s relationship had seemed solid, with both celebrating online the news she was pregnant in the summer. This came despite previous allegations Freddy had used cannabis, which prompted Jeff to attempt to legally block him from seeing his grandmother, Jackiey Budden. It had emerged Jackiey, the mum of late Jade Goody, would smoke the drug with Freddy at her flat in Bermondsey, southeast London.