Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of “distraction” after he launched an investigation into the former Democratic president’s time in office, claiming Biden’s top aides had covered up his cognitive decline and taken decisions on his behalf.
Biden said in a statement widely emailed to US media that the move announced late on Wednesday came at a time when Trump was pushing a major piece of legislation that critics had said included massive tax cuts and huge slashes to social spending.
“This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations,” Biden said.
Biden added: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked Biden over his actions in the latter years of his presidency, even going so far as to promote a conspiracy theory that Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by a robot clone.
However, there has been a broader focus on Biden’s mental acuity and physical health, especially after a book co-authored by the CNN anchor Jake Tapper was published containing a detailed account of Biden’s physical and mental decline as his presidency wore on – something the book said worsened as the 2024 election loomed.
In that campaign, Biden was forced to drop out after a disastrous debate performance heightened concerns over his abilities and age. He was eventually replaced by his vice-president, Kamala Harris, who lost the November 2024 election to Trump.
In his announcement of an investigation, Trump directed the counsel to the president, in consultation with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, and other officials, to investigate “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president”.
The investigation will center on Biden’s use of the autopen to sign legislation. An autopen is a mechanical device that is used to replicate a person’s authentic signature, and has been used by US presidents to sign executive actions for decades.
Trump called Biden’s use of an autopen “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history”.
The announcement comes as Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act runs into high-profile opposition, as the US president and his political allies try to ram it through Congress.
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His one-time ally Elon Musk – who recently appears to have broken with Trump after helping him slash government spending – has called the legislation a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill includes about $3.75tn in tax cuts – extending the expiring 2017 individual income tax breaks and temporarily adding new ones that Trump campaigned on, including no taxes on tips. The revenue loss would be partly offset by nearly $1.3tn in reduced federal spending elsewhere, namely through Medicaid and food assistance.
As a result, 7.8 million people would no longer have health insurance with changes to Medicaid, including 5.2 million from the proposed new work requirements on non-disabled adults up to age 65, with some exceptions, the analysis said. About 1.4 million people who are in the US without legal status in state-funded health programs would no longer have coverage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
