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Donald Trump, on Sunday, declared via social media that some of Joe Bidens presidential pardons, including those for members of the Jan. 6 Committee, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members of Bidens family beyond his son Hunter, were void because they were signed by an autopen device. Trumps statement has made people curious about the technology and his own use of it. Autopens are nothing new in the White House. The first president to use the technology was reportedly Harry Truman and Gerald Ford and George W. Bush were also open users. Despite this, Trump posted on Truth Social and spoke to the media on Air Force One Sunday, stirring up controversy. The Pardons that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen, Trump wrote on Truth Social. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The accusation about the legitimacy of the autopen seemingly came from the Oversight Project, a self-described investigative arm of the Heritage Foundation, which was the organization behind Project 2025. Last week, the group questioned the legitimacy of the pardons and Bidens executive orders, citing autopen usage. The autopen has long been an open secret in Washington, but Trumps focus on it and the possibility that he will try to challenge the legitimacy of pardons by his predecessor have raised some questions. What is an autopen? An autopen is a robotic device used to duplicate signatures, using an actual pen rather than a scanned version of someones signature. Its a slightly different process than an electronic signature, which is just a digital photo of a real signature. Documents signed with autopens use a robotic arm with a pen attached, mimicking the penstrokes of the signee. While Truman was the first to use it, its a tool that has been commonly used by presidents since at least the Kennedy administration. Lyndon Johnson allowed the device to be photographed in the White House, which resulted in a National Enquirer story titled, The Robot That Sits in for the President. More recently, it was the subject of controversy when President Barack Obama authorized an aide to use it in 2011 on his behalf to extend the Patriot Act. Are autopen signatures legal? In 2005, the Justice Department was asked to weigh in on the legality of the autopen. In a memorandum, legal officials gave it their blessing, writing, The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law. Rather, the President may sign a bill within the meaning of Article 1, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the Presidents signature to such a bill, for example by autopen. Has Trump used an autopen? The New York Post quotes Trump Staff Secretary William Scharf as saying Trump does not use the autopen on documents that exercise the power of the presidency. However, he noted, it has been used on a single document that requires multiple presidential signatures. It’s unclear how frequently Trump used it during his first term. Can Trump void Bidens pardons? Trump, its worth pointing out, has not provided any evidence that Biden actually used an autopen. Newsweek even claims there is photographic proof of Biden signing many of the documents The Heritage Foundation claims were done via autopen. Regardless of how the pardons were signed, there is no power in the Constitution or existing case law that gives a president any right to undo a pardon. Trump could (and may well) take the issue to court, something he implied would happen in his Air Force One conversation with media members, but theres no precedent for such an action to be approved by the courts. Should the courts step in, it would more likely be due to the fact that the pardons Trump is challenging were pre-emptive pardons, which are different than traditional extension of clemency. Biden was hardly the first to issue a preemptive pardon, however. Abraham Lincoln issued them during the Civil War. Jimmy Carter gave a blanket pardon to anyone who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. And Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon in 1974 before any charges could be brought against the disgraced president.
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E-Commerce
Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose over 8% in early morning trading on Monday on news that incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has big plans to turn around the ailing chipmaker, including restructuring the company’s approach to AI, resurrecting its manufacturing operations, and eyeing cuts to what Tan views as a “slow-moving and bloated middle management layer,” according to a Reuters report. Tan said he’ll need to make “tough decisions” when he takes Intel’s helm on Tuesday, after the company posted $19 billion in annual losses in 2024. Tan’s appointment comes three months after the company ousted former CEO Pat Gelsinger, as it struggled after missing out on the generative artificial intelligence boom and losing market share to Nvidia and AMD. One problem with Gelsinger’s leadership, a semiconductor industry expert told Reuters, was that Gelsinger was “too nice” and did not want to “fire a bunch of middle management in the way they needed to.” The Reuters report also said Intel could have architecture ready for an AI chip by 2027, and would plan to release a new version of it each subsequent year. This would be a big coup for Intel, which is lagging behind Nvidia and Broadcom (AVGO) in the AI hardware market. In the past several quarters, Intel has lost market share in data centers and PCs, and lost billions in its manufacturing business. Tan also plans to restart production of chips that power AI servers, and expand beyond servers into software, robotics, and AI foundation models, per Reuters. Tan’s appointment comes amid ongoing reports that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are among several investors in talks to divide the ailing chipmakers business into two parts, spinning out its chip-design and marketing business and its manufacturing arm. However, Tan has indicated he wont split up the company. Tan was a member of Intel’s board until he resigned last August. He spent a decade as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, an Intel supplier and chip-design software company, where he doubled revenue and sent the stock price soaring.
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E-Commerce
Bumble rolled out a handful of new safety features on Monday, including ID verification, in an attempt to draw in a new class of users who are focused on safety. ID verification requests a government-issued ID to authenticate the user’s age and name and then adds a badge indicating they are who they say they are on their profile. Users can then filter profiles by both photo verification and ID verification. ID verification is now available in 11 markets, including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with plans to expand further. Another safety-focused feature, Review Before You Send, addresses the messaging section, where users often receive inappropriate content. Originally launched for the Compliments feature, it prompts users to revise flagged messages before theyre sent. In addition, the company is launching a new “Share Date” feature that lets users share details about their dates with selected contacts. The safety efforts could help Bumble bring users to its namesake dating app at a time when the broader dating industry is dealing with post-COVID slumps, generational changes in dating behavior, and AI making it harder than ever to tell who is real or fake. Bumble, whose founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is back in the helm after leaving the post a little over a year ago, is pushing to revitalize the dating and social connection company. Bumble reported a 3.8% decline in quarterly app revenue in its most recent earnings report. Bumble’s biggest rival Match Group is also feeling the pressure. The company, which owns Hinge, Tinder, and other star dating apps, recently swapped out chief executives. The company’s new leader, Spencer Rascoff, sent employees a note last week that called for increased focus on product and user experience. Rascoff said that going forward, users need to be at the core of every choice. Every product decision, policy, and innovation must be guided by their experience and outcomes, he said. Trust is the foundation of real connections, and we are committed to rebuilding it with urgency, accountability, and an unwavering focus on the user.
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E-Commerce
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