President Trump’s Deputy Press Secretary, Harrison Fields, issued a sharp warning to the Biden White House this weekend, accusing its staff of massive corruption surrounding the use of an autopen for presidential pardons.
Fields told reporters the revelations have placed Biden aides “in a lot of hot water,” adding:
“They wish they autopen signed a pardon for themselves… this is the largest corruption this country has ever seen.”
The reference is part of a growing political storm over allegations that Biden’s aides used an autopen—a machine that duplicates presidential signatures—to authorize pardons without President Biden’s direct approval. This claim has led to escalating scrutiny of White House officials.
Fields echoed many Republican lawmakers in calling for criminal probes:
“At the very least, they need to testify under oath. At worst, charges should follow.”
The Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed several top White House aides, including Anthony Bernal and Annie Tomasini, have invoked the Fifth Amendment in congressional panels probing the autopen’s use. This legal protection has fueled GOP criticism that the team is covering up wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the White House has defended the autopen as a permissible tool used throughout multiple administrations. A White House spokesman said it “is never used without the president’s permission,” and that Biden personally signs key pardons.
Critics like Fields argue that invoking the Fifth reveals deeper issues. He claimed the practice enabled upper-echelon staff to carry out official business without direct oversight — what he labeled an “unelected autocracy.”
Republicans such as Rep. James Comer and Sen. Byron Donalds have previously called the Fifth Amendment use “corruption at the highest level” and demanded public testimony. Their insistence on hearings aligns with Fields’s remarks.
At least one aide, Ron Klain, is scheduled to testify at the end of July, though it remains unclear whether Klain will invoke privilege or face subpoenas.
As the debate intensifies, legal analysts caution that proving criminal wrongdoing will require concrete evidence that Biden was unaware of orders signed via autopen, or that staff intentionally bypassed his approval. However, with public officials pleading the Fifth, Fields and other conservatives believe the evidence may already be mounting.
