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A Justice Department probe into former President Joe Biden's use of an auto pen to sign presidential documents has been quietly dropped
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The New York Times was first to report that prosecutors ultimately couldn't build a criminal case after months spent examining whether Biden or his aides broke the law by using the mechanical signature device
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The investigation was pushed by President Trump and his allies in Congress, who claimed Biden's pardons and other actions might be invalid
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if they were signed with an auto pen rather than by hand
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But according to the Times, investigators never identified a crime, and prosecutors eventually shut the inquiry
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The review was handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, now led by longtime Trump ally Janine Pirro
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The probe began after Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi last year
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to examine whether Biden's aides had used the device improperly or without his knowledge
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Trump had argued the auto pen raised serious doubts about Biden's decision-making and the
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legitimacy of some of his presidential actions. Though Biden has repeatedly rejected those claims
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saying it was used only to replicate his signatures on large batches of documents
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something Trump himself has admitted to doing. The dispute even made its way into the decor at
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the White House, where a framed photo of an auto pen now hangs in the spot where Biden's
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portrait would normally go. We've reached out to the Justice Department for comment
