DOJ signals it’s still digging into Biden autopen use despite reports probe fizzled
The Department of Justice indicated Thursday it is still investigating the legality of former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen despite reports that the probe has been shelved because prosecutors have been unable to identify any criminal charges to bring.
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office was still looking into the Biden White House's autopen use after the New York Times reported that the inquiry was recently tabled.
Pirro responded to the report in an X post on Thursday, saying the DOJ "cannot comment on ongoing investigations," signaling the investigation remained open.
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The New York Times reported Wednesday that the "inquiry was quietly shelved" because the DOJ failed "to build a criminal case against Mr. Biden and his aides."
Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor, previously said legal challenges to Biden's autopen use would likely be unsuccessful.
"Many are suggesting that the Biden pardons may now be challenged in light of the disclosures of Biden's use of an autopen," Turley wrote on social media in 2025. "The chances of such challenges succeeding are vanishingly low. Presidents are allowed to use the autopen and courts will not presume a dead-hand conspiracy."
While other presidents have used autopens, including Trump — who has said he used it on "unimportant" documents — Biden's became a flashpoint as scrutiny of his mental acuity grew during his tenure.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigated the matter, interviewing several former Biden staffers. The committee alleged in a report that Biden's use of the autopen amounted to a scandal and recommended the DOJ investigate further.
"As President Biden declined, his staff abused the autopen and a lax chain-of-command policy to effect executive actions that lack any documentation of whether they were in fact authorized," the report read.
Trump has been eager to see accountability over the autopen, claiming on social media that any staff who used the autopen on behalf of Biden did so "illegally" and threatening the former president with perjury charges.
Biden has forcefully denied the allegations, saying in a statement last year he was in charge of decision-making.
"Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," Biden said. "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false."
The committee had homed in on Biden's pardons, including five controversial pardons for his family members in the final days of his presidency, saying there was a lack of "contemporaneous documentation" to corroborate that Biden directly ordered the pardons.
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The committee asked the DOJ to investigate "all of former President Biden’s executive actions, particularly clemency actions, to assess whether legal action must be taken to void any action that the former president did not, in fact, take himself."
Asked for comment, the White House deferred to the DOJ.
DOJ headquarters declined to comment.
Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.