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A watchdog group is calling on Congress to investigate whether executive orders during the Biden administration were issued without the president’s knowledge or approval after finding “no evidence” that Joe Biden was aware of several policies signed using an autopen.
Power the Future, a nonprofit that focuses on promoting energy jobs, sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) outlining its findings and requesting an investigation. The group also sent the letter to the Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy, per Fox News.
The organization reviewed eight energy-related executive orders, including Biden’s 2021 Arctic drilling ban and the federal government’s commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. According to Power the Future, Biden made no public statements about such orders.
"In light of the growing evidence that actions purportedly taken by the former president may not have been approved or signed by him, but instead promulgated by a small coterie of advisers in his name without his knowledge or over his signature using an ‘autopen,’ the need for congressional access to information has grown in importance with these revelations," the letter stated.
The group questioned whether these orders were truly made with presidential knowledge, writing, "Congress deserves to know how or whether these executive actions were authorized, and whether the former President was aware of such orders before they were implemented by the federal bureaucracy.”
“Were these actions taken on behalf of the president and purporting to execute his authority undertaken with the president’s knowledge and approach? It appears incumbent upon Congress to inquire, about all parties involved in these actions, who instructed them to do what, when,” the letter stated.
The issue of autopen-signed orders has drawn attention following the release of Original Sin, a book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that details Biden’s reported health decline during his presidency.
"Power The Future remains concerned that key policies of major economic and national security significance directed by the White House during the Biden administration may have been undertaken without presidential awareness and approval, but perhaps instead by a small coterie of staff," the letter added. "Although this likelihood has become more apparent by claims made in a recent book titled Original Sin, those claims merely support information that had already emerged."
Turner told Fox News, "During the Biden administration, hundreds of billions of dollars were funneled towards pet green projects, while the American fossil fuels industry was punished, and there is no evidence that Biden ordered it, directed it, or was even aware it was happening in his name." He added that the American people "deserve to know" who was actually signing the orders "behind closed doors."
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