Trump Uses Easter Egg Roll to Push Debunked Autopen Conspiracy to Children

Trump Turns Children's Event Into Conspiracy Hour

President Donald Trump turned what should have been a wholesome Easter celebration into another venue for pushing conspiracy theories -- this time with an audience of children at craft tables.

During Monday's White House Easter Egg Roll, Trump sat down with kids to sign their drawings and immediately pivoted to attacking his predecessor. After joking that the children could sell his autograph on eBay for $25,000, the 79-year-old president launched into a rambling monologue about Joe Biden and autopens.

"He didn't sign, he was incapable of signing his name so they'd follow him around with a big machine," Trump told the children, referring to Biden. "He'd take the paper, hand it to his guys, sign it with an autopen and give it back. That's not too good, right?"

The Facts Trump Ignored

Trump's claim that Biden's autopen use was "illegal" has been thoroughly debunked. Autopens -- devices that mechanically reproduce a person's signature -- have been used by multiple presidents for decades, including Trump himself during his first term.

Biden openly acknowledged using an autopen toward the end of his presidency during a July 2025 interview with The New York Times. "The autopen is, you know, is legal," Biden said. "As you know, other presidents used it, including Trump."

Legal experts told PBS in March 2025 that Trump has no authority to reverse Biden's pardons, despite Trump's Truth Social "declaration" that they were "void." Presidential pardons, once granted, are constitutionally irreversible.

A Pattern of Obsession

This is far from the first time Trump has fixated on the autopen conspiracy. During a September 2025 press conference with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump claimed without evidence that "the autopen was illegal" and that Biden "never gave the orders" during his presidency.

Trump has taken his obsession to bizarre lengths. He omitted Biden's official portrait from the Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House, replacing it with a photo of an autopen. The stunt mirrored a meme Trump posted in March 2025 showing an autopen signature framed between his two presidential portraits with the dates "2021-2025" -- erasing Biden's presidency entirely.

Why This Matters

Trump's willingness to spread false information to children at a public event reveals how deeply conspiracy thinking has embedded itself in his administration. The Easter Egg Roll, traditionally a nonpartisan celebration for families, became another platform for Trump to rewrite history and undermine his predecessor's legitimacy.

The incident also highlights Trump's ongoing effort to delegitimize Biden's presidency through fabricated claims about his mental capacity and the validity of his official actions. By telling children that Biden was "incapable of signing his name," Trump weaponizes ageism while projecting his own concerns about cognitive decline -- he is 79, just four years younger than Biden was when he left office.

When a sitting president uses a children's Easter event to push conspiracy theories, it is not just inappropriate -- it is a window into an administration untethered from factual reality. The kids at those craft tables deserved better than being conscripted into Trump's alternate universe.