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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's DOJ fails to find 'sufficient evidence' to prosecute his biggest rival
trump put a great deal of pressure on his sad and poor excuse of a DOJ and on Pirro and Bondi to find some way to indict and prosecute President Joe Biden for using the same autopen that trump uses.
President Donald Trump's allies in the Department of Justice failed to find "sufficient evidence" to prosecute one of the president's biggest political foes, a new report revealed.
— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-03-04T21:31:21Z
https://www.rawstory.com/biden-autopen-2675554803
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump's DOJ failed to build a case against former President Joe Biden concerning his use of an autopen while in office. The case was being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in Washington, D.C., but was "quietly shelved" around the same time that Pirro failed to indict six Democratic members of Congress for a social media video in which they told military troops they don't have to obey illegal orders, according to the report.
"The departments 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. Trumps demands and bring indictments against those he wants to be criminally targeted," the Times reported. "Some of those cases were rejected by grand juries, some were rejected by judges, and some, like the autopen case, were abandoned by prosecutors."....
The failure of Trump's DOJ to indict Biden for his autopen usage is also the latest in a long line of defeats the department has suffered while going after Trump's political foes. Trump has sought to prosecute foes like former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, but courts have rejected the attempts.
spanone
(141,370 posts)newdeal2
(5,295 posts)Trump will freak out and demand it.
Ocelot II
(130,227 posts)in connection with his official duties? It was a terrible decision but like it or not, it applies to Biden as well as to Piggy.
vapor2
(4,351 posts)Hey Joe
(560 posts)Her besotted incompetence makes this DOJ
look like a joke.
Again and again and again
..
LetMyPeopleVote
(178,665 posts)One former U.S. attorney described the investigation itself as a disgusting abuse of power, which was more than fair given the circumstances.
Thereâs obviously a lot going on, but the fact that federal prosecutors tried to build a criminal case against Joe Biden â based on no evidence, because Trump barked unjust orders â is quite insane.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-05T14:07:50.994Z
The collapse of the case doesnât negate the underlying abuse.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-justice-dept-reportedly-failed-to-find-a-crime-in-bidens-use-of-autopen
This was the first time in the nations history that an incumbent American president publicly ordered a federal probe into his predecessor.....
Whatever happened to this presidential directive? Nine months later, we appear to have an answer. The New York Times reported:
The Justice Department, after calls by President Trump to investigate former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., scrutinized whether Mr. Biden and his aides broke the law in using the autopen to sign presidential documents, but was ultimately unable to move forward with making a case, according to three people briefed on the matter.
.......University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and an MS NOW legal analyst, described this as a disgusting abuse of power an assessment that is more than fair, given the circumstances.
Making matters worse is the degree to which these abuses have become the new norm since Trump returned to power. It was, after all, just last week when the public learned that Trumps Justice Department also tried and failed to secure felony indictments against six members of Congress (two Democratic senators and four Democratic House members) because they appeared in a video urging military service members to disregard illegal orders.
The move didnt turn out well regular citizens on a grand jury rejected the ridiculous gambit but the fact that such an effort was made against a group of military and intelligence veterans whod done nothing wrong was similarly indefensible.....
Whats more, the apparent demise of that case didnt negate the fact that Team Trump is still pursuing cases against a lengthy list of Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff of California, Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.....
Soon after, Main Justice unfurled a giant banner featuring the presidents face on its facade. The move removed a pretense that no one took seriously anyway. As The Wall Street Journal summarized in November, this is a Justice Department in which the president, not the attorney general, calls the shots.
The criminal investigation into Biden is powerful evidence in support of the thesis, though its a big piece of a larger puzzle.
LetMyPeopleVote
(178,665 posts)
LetMyPeopleVote
(178,665 posts)The Fox News host turned U.S. attorney has had a string of public setbacks in her efforts to prosecute Trumps enemies.
Jeanine Pirro, the Fox News host turned top federal prosecutor, has endured a string of embarrassing setbacks since January.
— Emma Jean Kitty (@emmajeankitty.bsky.social) 2026-03-07T23:47:14.159Z
Jeanine Pirroâs failure to indict Biden speaks to something bigger
www.ms.now/opinion/jean...
https://www.ms.now/opinion/jeanine-pirro-biden-autopen-investigation
The autopen inquiry, such as it was, was just the latest collapsed effort from Pirro to punish President Donald Trumps enemies. Her failures are a sign that even as the Justice Department has fallen under the White Houses control, the law still doesnt automatically bend to his will. And Trumps vendettas remain stalled out. The limits to his power have become a little clearer......
The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has jurisdiction over federal crimes committed within Washington, making it an obvious choice of venue for this fishing expedition. Pirros predecessor, acting U.S. attorney Ed Martin, opened an investigation into Biden last spring, according to The New York Times, and it continued after Pirro was confirmed to her role in August. But the probe reportedly suffered, the Times reports, because:
Investigators were never quite clear what crime, if any, had been committed by the Biden administrations use of the autopen.
It was also unclear whether investigators should focus their attention on the actions of Mr. Bidens aides or on Mr. Biden himself, given that the United States Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in 2024, granted broad immunity to presidents for most acts undertaken as part of their official duties.
In recent months, prosecutors determined that despite Mr. Trumps desire to seek vengeance against Mr. Biden and his aides, there was no credible case to bring, the people said. The prosecutors never brought a potential indictment before a grand jury.
Its hard to tell whether the autopen case never making it to a grand jury makes it more or less of an embarrassment than other recent fiascos. Last month, federal prosecutors from Pirros office failed to persuade a grand jury to indict six Democratic members of Congress on charges of seditious conspiracy. Their alleged crime: filming a video in which lawmakers reminded members of the military and intelligence community that they have an obligation not to follow illegal orders. Speaking of those lawmakers and their video, Trump said in an interview last year that in the old days, if you said a thing like that, that was punishable by death. The grand jurys refusal to indict, though, is a good sign its members disagree.....
It is for the best that Pirros efforts have languished. It is good that the justice system continues to rely on facts and evidence. But her failure to deliver on carrying out Trumps vindictive agenda cant overshadow the fact that she felt the need to try at all and will likely try again.