00:02A Justice Department probe into former President Joe Biden's use of an auto pen to sign presidential
00:07documents has been quietly dropped. The New York Times was first to report that prosecutors
00:13ultimately couldn't build a criminal case after months spent examining whether Biden
00:18or his aides broke the law by using the mechanical signature device. The investigation was pushed
00:24by President Trump and his allies in Congress, who claimed Biden's pardons and other actions
00:29might be invalid if they were signed with an auto pen rather than by hand. But according
00:34to the Times, investigators never identified a crime and prosecutors eventually shut the
00:40inquiry. The review was handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, now led by
00:44longtime Trump ally Janine Pirro. The probe began after Trump ordered Attorney General
00:50Pam Bondi last year to examine whether Biden's aides had used the device improperly or without
00:55his knowledge. Trump had argued the auto pen raised serious doubts about Biden's decision
01:01making and the legitimacy of some of his presidential actions. Though Biden has repeatedly rejected
01:06those claims, saying it was used only to replicate his signatures on large batches of documents,
01:12something Trump himself has admitted to doing. The dispute even made its way into the decor
01:18at the White House, where a framed photo of an auto pen now hangs in the spot where Biden's
01:23portrait would normally go. We've reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
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