Has Donald Trump ever officially used an autopen while president or in other roles?

1. The recent flap: identical signatures, quick edits

Multiple outlets reported that the Justice Department initially posted copies of several November 2025 pardons that bore strikingly identical signatures, then quietly replaced those files with versions showing different signatures after public questions; the department described the situation as a “technical error,” and the White House insisted Trump signed each pardon by hand ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. How critics and allies framed the episode

Opponents seized on the identical images as evidence that Trump — who has frequently attacked Joe Biden for autopen use — may himself have relied on a signature-replicating device, while allies and the White House denounced the coverage as a “non-story” and pointed back to accusations against Biden ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Republicans on oversight committees have pushed broader narratives about autopen use under Biden; Democrats and some legal analysts called those probes partisan ^{[5] [6]}.

3. What the administration says and what’s documented

The White House spokesperson said Trump “signed each one of these pardons by hand as he does with all pardons” ^[3]. Available sources note the online files were replaced and the administration publicly rejected the idea Trump used an autopen for those documents, but the articles also document that the initial postings contained identical signatures that prompted the scrutiny ^{[2] [1]}.

4. Legal context: autopen use does not automatically invalidate actions

Legal scholars and prior Justice Department memoranda have long treated autopen use as legally permissible provided the president authorized the action; experts cited by multiple outlets say the key issue is whether the president intended the act, not the mechanics of the signature, and courts have no simple mechanism to nullify pardons merely because an autopen was used ^{[1] [7] [8]}.

5. Trump’s own public comments and prior admissions

Reporting shows Trump has publicly criticized Biden’s alleged autopen use and has acknowledged in the past that he himself uses an autopen “only for very unimportant papers,” according to FactCheck and other outlets — a disclosure that complicates absolute denials even as the White House asserts he signed major documents by hand ^{[8] [7]}.

6. Conflicting accounts and the limits of available evidence

News outlets document the sequence of events (identical signatures posted, replacement files, White House denials), but none of the provided sources contain an independent forensic verification conclusively proving autopen use in the recent pardons or proving that Trump personally signed every original document; forensic conclusions are not in the current reporting ^{[2] [1] [3]}. Available sources do not mention a public, independent forensic report confirming autopen use by Trump.

7. How this fits a broader political playbook

Coverage shows autopen disputes have become a political cudgel: Trump and House Republicans have sought to discredit Biden-era acts on autopen grounds, and opponents highlight similar instances when Trump used mechanical signatures ^{[5] [6] [8]}. Reporters and legal experts cited in the coverage describe the autopen issue as easily weaponized for partisan ends ^{[1] [6]}.

8. Bottom line for readers

The factual record in supplied reporting: identical signatures were posted and then corrected online; the administration insists Trump signed those pardons by hand; legal experts say autopen use wouldn’t automatically void presidential actions; and no independent, publicly disclosed forensic finding in these sources definitively proves Trump officially used an autopen for the disputed documents ^{[1] [2] [3] [7]}. If you need a conclusive determination beyond these reports, available sources do not mention a completed, public forensic or inspector-general finding that settles whether Trump used an autopen.