This week, reports indicated that the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into former President Joe Biden’s autopen use, another suggests the case is still open. What exactly is going on?
First, let’s rewind a bit to last October, when Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had initiated a review of the former president’s use of autopen to sign pardons. Her comment came around the same time that the Oversight Committee’s investigation released a report that it claimed exposed the Biden administration’s misuse of the autopen, though a different report from House Democrats argued that the former administration’s use of autopen was lawful.
Now, you might be wondering what an autopen even is. To explain that we’ll have to go back even further, to the early 1800s, when President Thomas Jefferson was in office. He was the first president to use the autopen – a device used to make duplicate signatures – according to the Shapell Manuscript Foundation. Autopens in Jefferson’s day were a bit different, and President Lyndon B. Johnson wad the first to publicize use of that device in the White House.
Even President Donald Trump has used one, according to reports. While Biden has defended his autopen use, the House Oversight Committee’s report claimed that the Biden administration used it to hide the former president’s deteriorating condition in office.
Biden eventually dropped out of the 2024 presidential election due to concerns about his age following a poor debate performance against Trump. Since he left office, more information about the octogenarian’s declining health was included in a book penned by CNN journalists.
An investigation into the matter was led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, run by Jeanine Pirro, a Trump ally.
In a Tuesday article, The New York Times said that the DOJ was “ultimately unable to move forward with making a case,” against Biden for using the autopen, citing “three people briefed on the matter.”
“The inquiry was quietly shelved in recent months, around the time that prosecutors under Ms. Pirro sought and failed to secure an indictment in a different case: one against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video in the fall that enraged Mr. Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse to follow illegal orders,” said the outlet.
CBS also reported this week that prosecutors are dropping a criminal probe into whether former Biden and his aides unlawfully used an autopen to issue pardons. It cited a “person briefed on the matter.”
However, CNN reported Friday that the Justice Department is “still investigating whether people around former President Joe Biden broke the law with their use of an autopen,” citing an unnamed senior Justice Department official. That official added that Biden himself is not under investigation and he has broad protection under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision granting presidential immunity.
While CNN’s sources said the investigation into use of autopen in the Biden administration is still active, it also noted that it hasn’t appeared to have much “forward momentum” in recent months, according to people familiar with the probe. The outlet also said that “the Justice Department has been under pressure from Trump to pursue cases against his political adversaries.”
In The New York Times’ report, the outlet also said “the department’s failure to build a criminal case against Mr. Biden and his aides is the latest example of its increasing inability to follow through on Mr. Trump’s demands and bring indictments against those he wants to be criminally targeted.”
“We cannot comment on ongoing investigations,” said Pirro in a Wednesday X post about the autopen investigation.