Jeanine Pirro hits back at NYT report claiming the DOJ has shelved Biden autopen probe – One America News Network

The reported closure would end an effort by the Trump administration to challenge dozens of Biden-era executive actions and pardons on the grounds of signature fraud.

Ed Martin, who served as a high-ranking DOJ official and the Pardon Attorney, was a central figure in advocating for the scrutiny of Biden-era actions. He suggested that while autopen use is generally legal, the circumstances of the Biden administration’s use required investigation to ensure the signatures were authorized by a competent president.

A significant driver of the investigation was the flurry of clemency actions taken by Biden in his final days in office, including pardons for family members and various high-profile figures. Many had argued that these were signed via autopen while Biden was “unfit” to make such decisions.

Biden became the president with the highest total acts of clemency, with more than half of the 4,245 pardons his administration issued being granted in the final month of his single term.

Family members pardoned:

Unlike the others, Hunter had already been convicted of federal gun charges in Delaware and had pleaded guilty to tax charges in California. His pardon was a “full and unconditional” grant covering all federal offenses committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.

President Trump ordered the investigation in June in a Presidential Memorandum, stating, “The combined nature of Biden’s documented cognitive decline and the repeated use of an autopen raises serious concerns about the legitimacy of his actions.”

At the time, Biden called the claim “nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans.”

“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.”

 

A conservative watchdog group, the Oversight Project, had also dedicated itself to examining Biden’s signatures on over 27,000 documents — finding that many of them were identical matches to either a signature they labeled “Autopen A” or one called “Autopen B.”

Several former Biden aides were eventually subpoenaed to face questioning from Congress as part of the probe.

Some of the 14 former Biden administration officials and aides include:

• Dr. Kevin O’Connor – President Biden’s personal physician. During his deposition, he invoked the Fifth Amendment.
• Anthony Bernal – Former Chief of Staff to First Lady Jill Biden. During his deposition, he invoked the Fifth Amendment.
• Annie Tomasini – Former Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations. During her deposition, she invoked the Fifth Amendment.
• Ashley Williams – Former Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations.
• Ian Sams – Former Spokesman for the Biden White House Counsel’s Office.
• Jeff Zients – Former White House Chief of Staff.
• Ron Klain – Former White House Chief of Staff.
• Neera Tanden – Former Senior Advisor to President Biden. 

President Trump also went so far as to use a photo of the autopen tool as it signed Biden’s name in his “Presidential Walk of Fame” in the East Wing of the White House.

Additionally, he terminated all executive orders signed with the autopen under the Biden administration.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), previously published a 93-page report titled “The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House.” The report accused Biden’s “inner circle,” including his physician, of a coordinated cover-up of his declining mental and physical health while in office.

“Faced with the cognitive decline of President Joe Biden, White House aides — at the direction of the inner circle — hid the truth about the former president’s condition and fitness for office,” the report stated.

While the closure of the DOJ’s criminal investigation into the Biden administration’s autopen usage marks a dead end for potential prosecutions, the Trump administration has leveraged the issue to gain significant political and administrative momentum.

Trump has since issued executive orders declaring dozens of Biden-era regulations and pardons “null and void” based on the “signature fraud” finding — a move that bypasses the lengthy repeal processes typically required under the Administrative Procedure Act.

While legal analysts note that these unilateral declarations face uphill battles in federal court, as the APA and Supreme Court precedent often protect established rules and pardons, the strategy has provided the necessary political leverage for the administration to stall or inhibit Biden-era policies.

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