Federal prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office have dropped a criminal investigation into whether former President Joe Biden and his aides unlawfully used an autopen to issue presidential pardons. According to a person briefed on the matter, prosecutors closed the case after failing to find a legal basis to pursue charges. Two sources confirmed the existence of the probe, though the exact time when the investigation ended has not been determined.
The investigation was ordered last June by President Donald Trump, who directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel to examine whether the Biden administration used an autopen machine to sign key presidential documents such as pardons and judicial appointments. In a memo, Trump alleged a possible “conspiracy” to misuse presidential signatures through the device to conceal what he described as Biden’s cognitive decline. Biden dismissed the claims at the time, calling them false and a political distraction created by Trump and congressional Republicans.
The closure of the autopen probe is one of several recent cases pursued by Pirro’s office that have failed to move forward. In another instance, a grand jury declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers accused of urging military service members to reject unlawful orders in a video released last fall. The office has also attempted to subpoena records from the Federal Reserve related to renovations and statements made by Chairman Jerome Powell before Congress, a move the Federal Reserve is challenging in a sealed legal dispute, according to earlier reports.
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