The issue remains the same regardless of how she dissembles. When did POTUS actually authorize the autopen signing of any single EO or other doc requiring his signature? Each one needs an audit trail. They don't have it - I'd bet 1000 bucks they do not. But will our DoJ actually investigate and prosecute? Her testimony alone is enough for criminal referrals.
Thanks for this. I wonder if a congressional referral helps? They have actual evidence they've elicited, I think they have a role in pressing this too.
Peter, I’d love to hear your opinion about how Tanden’s testimony will be used. On the one hand, Trump has ordered the investigation, so he likely has serious interest in using it politically. On the other hand, the whole autopen mess will have to be legally interpreted at the Supreme Court level, and then any persecutions Trump pursues will be spun by corporate media with words such as”witch-hunt”, “retaliation”, and yeah, “persecution”. All of this could be spun to make Trump allies look cruel and vindictive in an election. I’m thinking Trump may plan to use the information uncovered by this investigation just as threatening material, because it’s too much dynamite to actually use - it could blow up in his face, politically. Still, Trump doesn’t shy away from using dynamite in a fight, does he? If he’s got a powerful weapon, he’s daring enough to risk using it. Probably, the course of action will depend on what additional information is uncovered. But what do you think?
The autopen crisis ultimately boils down to the text within the Bush-era OLC memo on autopen usage which reaffirms that the President must make any and all decisions about signing documents.
Neera Tanden could not say conclusively that Joe Biden issued each and every decision to sign a document with the autopen. Without that provenance, Neera Tanden has no way of knowing if Joe Biden intended for documents to be signed--be they bills about to become law, executive orders, or even pardons.
If the decision to sign a document was made by anyone other than Joe Biden, laws were broken. The President's staff may not substitute their judgement for his. There is zero Constitutional debate on that point.
Tanden's testimony is a sign that there's not just smoke here. There's an actual fire smoldering. By itself, her testimony is not going to send anybody to prison, but, by itself, her testimony is reason for the Department of Justice to investigate this issue quite vigorously.
It is in Trump’s interest to get his Autopen signatures disallowed. Then he can go after a ton of people. Pelosi Cheney etc re Jan 6. Michael Byrd. All the pardons. Hunter. Whom I personally care less about. But I want him convicted of money kickbacks which went to Joe.
Certainly corporate media and Democrats want people to move on from questions regarding Biden's use of the autopen.
But if you're a Democrat running in 2026, how do you defend this? If you don't defend it, how do you justify even being a Democrat?
In order to do well in next year's mid-terms, Democrats need to reverse Trump's gains in traditional Democrat constituencies. They need to bring more voters in to the Democrat tent. With Biden hanging around their neck like the proverbial albatross, how do they do that?
Corporate media will never let the question be raised, unless there are indictments or the current administration repudiates all doubtful Autopen uses.
We are a long way from criminal indictments. There's no denying that, and there's no denying that we might not get to the point where there are criminal indictments.
But criminal indictments are steadily becoming more and not less likely.
Unlike JFK and Epstein, this is a scandal where prosecution is a real possibility. The Epstein files have never been anything more than a media macguffin--any criminal acts they might prove passed beyond the statute of limitations long ago.
There will be no indictments. The web of lies ensnares too many politicians and lackeys who know too many dirty little secrets and want to live. And whether the crimes committed by people on the Epstein list are prosecutable is beside the point. Name names, let the public know who committed the crimes and let those scumbags defend themselves against public opinion. Reputational ruin for politicians, entertainers and princes is just as devastating as “prison time” in Club Fed.
She had a duty to know for certain Biden had approved something before Auto-penning it. A lawyer asks for directions on a clients will. He has to ask the person not someone else. I can send an email to my banker asking for a wire to be sent. The banker has to call me and hear me speak it. Which is what happens. The banker can’t rely on an email because someone with access to my phone might have asked for it.
Any reasonable person would conclude that there is a duty of care which attaches to custodianship of the Presidential autopen.
The legal challenge is that what that exactly duty of care is has never been litigated or adjudicated. The standards have never been formalized.
Conceptually, Neera Tanden was at the very least negligent in her duties.
Tactically, I am more concerned with what she might have to say about Biden's inner circle than I am in her landing behind bars. At most she was the functionary at the bottom of the food chain, the one who simply received orders and carried them out.
The ones who aggressively conspired against the Republic were the ones giving the orders Neera Tanden carried out. Those are the ones I want to see in handcuffs.
Me too. And if to get their convictions she has to be let off with a slap on the wrist so be it. But I don’t like it. I also think her own finances have to be deeply looked into. If she is the final penman she too could easily be bribed.
She was hired by WJ Clinton. The thing speaks for itself: res olds loquitur. Legal doctrine. Bidirectionally. To agree to work for Clinton you have to be without scruples & to be sought out for work by him, he must have judged you to be without scruples or shame.
And Biden’s inner circle knew (couldn’t not have known) that he was non compis mentis, certainly by the time she was in that position (October, 2021) & likely why they hired her.
The whole Biden administration needs to be incarcerated @ the very least— maybe excepting the gardener & the maids.
At least indicted. She's the sort of little fish who cuts immunity deals to feed up to prosecutors the bigger fish, but that takes an indictment.
And she ins indictable. The right hand of a conspiracy does not need to know what the left hand is doing for it to be a conspiracy in the eyes of the law.
It was Ron Klain, Mr. Far-left Progressive. I just don't know how you prove it. No one is going to admit it.
The admission will come when smaller fish are on a federal hook.
Pam Bondi needs to get out the mayo and indict a few ham sandwiches.
Treason
The issue remains the same regardless of how she dissembles. When did POTUS actually authorize the autopen signing of any single EO or other doc requiring his signature? Each one needs an audit trail. They don't have it - I'd bet 1000 bucks they do not. But will our DoJ actually investigate and prosecute? Her testimony alone is enough for criminal referrals.
President Trump already ordered investigations take place.
Thanks for this. I wonder if a congressional referral helps? They have actual evidence they've elicited, I think they have a role in pressing this too.
Every push for an investigation can only raise the probability of a good outcome
Peter, I’d love to hear your opinion about how Tanden’s testimony will be used. On the one hand, Trump has ordered the investigation, so he likely has serious interest in using it politically. On the other hand, the whole autopen mess will have to be legally interpreted at the Supreme Court level, and then any persecutions Trump pursues will be spun by corporate media with words such as”witch-hunt”, “retaliation”, and yeah, “persecution”. All of this could be spun to make Trump allies look cruel and vindictive in an election. I’m thinking Trump may plan to use the information uncovered by this investigation just as threatening material, because it’s too much dynamite to actually use - it could blow up in his face, politically. Still, Trump doesn’t shy away from using dynamite in a fight, does he? If he’s got a powerful weapon, he’s daring enough to risk using it. Probably, the course of action will depend on what additional information is uncovered. But what do you think?
The autopen crisis ultimately boils down to the text within the Bush-era OLC memo on autopen usage which reaffirms that the President must make any and all decisions about signing documents.
Neera Tanden could not say conclusively that Joe Biden issued each and every decision to sign a document with the autopen. Without that provenance, Neera Tanden has no way of knowing if Joe Biden intended for documents to be signed--be they bills about to become law, executive orders, or even pardons.
If the decision to sign a document was made by anyone other than Joe Biden, laws were broken. The President's staff may not substitute their judgement for his. There is zero Constitutional debate on that point.
Tanden's testimony is a sign that there's not just smoke here. There's an actual fire smoldering. By itself, her testimony is not going to send anybody to prison, but, by itself, her testimony is reason for the Department of Justice to investigate this issue quite vigorously.
Literally, WTH!
Sad part is Peter, no one cares. This is yesterday's news and people have moved on from it, Nothing will be done. Wait and see.
It is in Trump’s interest to get his Autopen signatures disallowed. Then he can go after a ton of people. Pelosi Cheney etc re Jan 6. Michael Byrd. All the pardons. Hunter. Whom I personally care less about. But I want him convicted of money kickbacks which went to Joe.
Trump definitely has a dog in that hunt, and who could blame him?
After the lawfare the man has endured for the past four years, people should expect Trump to demand his pound of Biden flesh.
Certainly corporate media and Democrats want people to move on from questions regarding Biden's use of the autopen.
But if you're a Democrat running in 2026, how do you defend this? If you don't defend it, how do you justify even being a Democrat?
In order to do well in next year's mid-terms, Democrats need to reverse Trump's gains in traditional Democrat constituencies. They need to bring more voters in to the Democrat tent. With Biden hanging around their neck like the proverbial albatross, how do they do that?
Corporate media will never let the question be raised, unless there are indictments or the current administration repudiates all doubtful Autopen uses.
Methinks this will go the way of the JFK and Epstein files. Draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag it out and let everyone move on to the next shiny outrage.
We are a long way from criminal indictments. There's no denying that, and there's no denying that we might not get to the point where there are criminal indictments.
But criminal indictments are steadily becoming more and not less likely.
Unlike JFK and Epstein, this is a scandal where prosecution is a real possibility. The Epstein files have never been anything more than a media macguffin--any criminal acts they might prove passed beyond the statute of limitations long ago.
There will be no indictments. The web of lies ensnares too many politicians and lackeys who know too many dirty little secrets and want to live. And whether the crimes committed by people on the Epstein list are prosecutable is beside the point. Name names, let the public know who committed the crimes and let those scumbags defend themselves against public opinion. Reputational ruin for politicians, entertainers and princes is just as devastating as “prison time” in Club Fed.
Oh my gosh!!! She needs to be prosecuted too then! WOW!
She had a duty to know for certain Biden had approved something before Auto-penning it. A lawyer asks for directions on a clients will. He has to ask the person not someone else. I can send an email to my banker asking for a wire to be sent. The banker has to call me and hear me speak it. Which is what happens. The banker can’t rely on an email because someone with access to my phone might have asked for it.
Any reasonable person would conclude that there is a duty of care which attaches to custodianship of the Presidential autopen.
The legal challenge is that what that exactly duty of care is has never been litigated or adjudicated. The standards have never been formalized.
Conceptually, Neera Tanden was at the very least negligent in her duties.
Tactically, I am more concerned with what she might have to say about Biden's inner circle than I am in her landing behind bars. At most she was the functionary at the bottom of the food chain, the one who simply received orders and carried them out.
The ones who aggressively conspired against the Republic were the ones giving the orders Neera Tanden carried out. Those are the ones I want to see in handcuffs.
Me too. And if to get their convictions she has to be let off with a slap on the wrist so be it. But I don’t like it. I also think her own finances have to be deeply looked into. If she is the final penman she too could easily be bribed.
She was hired by WJ Clinton. The thing speaks for itself: res olds loquitur. Legal doctrine. Bidirectionally. To agree to work for Clinton you have to be without scruples & to be sought out for work by him, he must have judged you to be without scruples or shame.
And Biden’s inner circle knew (couldn’t not have known) that he was non compis mentis, certainly by the time she was in that position (October, 2021) & likely why they hired her.
The whole Biden administration needs to be incarcerated @ the very least— maybe excepting the gardener & the maids.
Sadly yes it seems.
At least indicted. She's the sort of little fish who cuts immunity deals to feed up to prosecutors the bigger fish, but that takes an indictment.
And she ins indictable. The right hand of a conspiracy does not need to know what the left hand is doing for it to be a conspiracy in the eyes of the law.
So how can we get that done?!!!