Musk has been accused as being the real President by Trump critics. Trump has made it clear that he is the boss ;and Musk has an advisory role .


Speaking in the Oval Office after the meeting, Trump said cabinet members should decide who to cut, but if they didn't, Musk would do the job."I had a meeting, and I said I want the cabinet members to go first", Trump said. "And if they can cut it's better, if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."
The hastily planned gathering could provide evidence that the president has decided to curtail the sweeping power the SpaceX and Tesla boss and his Doge cost-cutting initiative have commanded in the early weeks of his administration.
Trump first commented on the substance of Thursday's meeting, which was disclosed only in after-the-fact media reports, through a post that evening on his social media site, Truth Social.
He said that he had instructed his secretaries to work with Doge on "cost-cutting measures".
"As the secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go," he wrote, adding that they should use a "scalpel" not a "hatchet".
Is Trump reining in Elon Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries? (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwd1722yr2o)

What is more apparent is that Clueless Joe was not in control . Recent news suggest that he may not have even been present when bills and EOs were signed in his name.


'We gathered every document we could find with Biden's signature over the course of his presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year,'

Biden autopen signature appears on almost every document he signed, bombshell report finds amid demands for full inquiry into who was running the country | Daily Mail Online (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14479333/biden-autopen-president-signature-report.html)

Remember earlier this year ,Joe could not recall signing the LNG pause doc.
President Biden insisted he didn't sign executive order -- just weeks after doing so: Speaker Mike Johnson (https://nypost.com/2025/01/18/us-news/president-biden-insisted-he-didnt-sign-executive-order-just-weeks-after-doing-so-speaker-mike-johnson/)

That's because maybe he didn't .

The question is who controlled the autopen ?

Here is the deal with the autopen. The President "shall" sign bills to become law is mandated in the constitution Article 1 Sec 7 clause 2 except if the President vetoes and Congress overrides the veto....or if the President does not return the bill to Congress in 10 days . There is no exception in my opinion for the President not physically signing it.


Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

The same is not true for pardons . He can proclaim a pardon and it is done. Nothing mandates a signing . Article 2 section 2 clause 1


.....and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.


So when Trump proclaims on social media that Biden's pardons of the J 6 committee and Hunter are void because they were signed using autopen is not a fact.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GmN6HUAbgAA-8b2?format=jpg&name=small


The real question of the autopen controversy is who was in charge ? That question has to be answered .


Karoline Levitt said it best .

The president was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room should be asking, I think it’s a question that everybody in this room should be looking into, because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior if staff members were signing the president of the United States autograph without his consent.
(8:30 mark of video)

FULL: White House press briefing with Karoline Leavitt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Q05dOg8XQ)

Flashback 1811 .

King George III goes mad (at the time of the Revolution he was sane despite popular portrayals ) .

Lucky for Great Britain they had a responsible Prime Minister by the name of Spencer Perceval to deal with it . He proposed and got passed the 'Regency Act' which appointed the Prince of Wales (future George IV) as Regent, with restrictions on his powers for a limited time, while the King's recovery was hoped for , He continued in that role until 1820 when assumed the throne.

The US has a similar provision ;the 25th amendment . But Clueless Joe's VP and cabinet allowed him to remain in power despite his obvious cognitive decline.

Someone was authorized to use the autopen . I doubt it came from Clueless Joe . More likely Jill Biden ran the government as Edith Wilson effectively did in 1919 .
The Committee investigating it wants to know who .


Just yesterday, we heard from our first witness, Neera Tanden, the former Staff Secretary who controlled the Biden autopen. Ms. Tanden testified that she had minimal interaction with President Biden, despite wielding tremendous authority. She explained that to obtain approval for autopen signatures, she would send decision memos to members of the President’s inner circle and had no visibility of what occurred between sending the memo and receiving it back with approval. Her testimony raises serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House amid the President’s obvious decline.


Chairman Comer Statement on Anthony Bernal’s Refusal to Testify in Biden Cognitive Decline Investigation - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability (https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-statement-on-anthony-bernals-refusal-to-testify-in-biden-cognitive-decline-investigation/)

Anthony Bernal is the number one culprit .....he is the former Assistant to Joe and the Senior Advisor Jill He was to testify today but is now refusing to appear for a transcribed interview .

Bernal was also seen internally as a sort of "loyalty police" that created a culture suspicious of dissent.

Jill Biden's top aide bails on House investigation in Biden fitness (https://www.axios.com/2025/06/25/joe-biden-mental-fitness-anthony-bernal-oversight-testimony)