Another Trump Revenge Plot Fizzles as DOJ Drops Biden Autopen Investigation

So here’s what happened. Federal prosecutors just closed an investigation into whether Joe Biden illegally used an autopen to sign presidential documents. No charges. No indictments. No there there, as they say in Washington.

The investigation itself was always absurd, frankly. Trump ordered it last June through a memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi, claiming Biden’s team ran some kind of conspiracy to hide his cognitive decline by mechanically signing pardons and judicial appointments. The whole thing read like a bad political thriller. Trump wanted prosecutors to determine if Biden’s advisers “secretly used the mechanical signature pen” and whether that would invalidate executive actions taken during his presidency.

Here’s the thing about autopens, though. Presidents have used them for decades. It’s not some dark secret or constitutional crisis waiting to happen. When you’re the leader of the free world, you can’t physically sign every single document that crosses your desk. There aren’t enough hours in the day. This has been standard operating procedure through multiple administrations, Republican and Democrat alike.

But facts rarely get in the way of a good political vendetta, do they?

The prosecutors in Jeanine Pirro’s office couldn’t find a legal hook. That’s the key phrase here. They looked, presumably because they were ordered to look, and came up empty. Two sources confirmed to CBS News that the probe existed and has since been closed. We don’t know exactly when it ended, but it died the death it deserved.

This represents just one failure in a string of politically motivated prosecutions coming out of Pirro’s office. Remember, this is the same operation that recently tried to indict six Democratic lawmakers for telling service members they could reject unlawful orders. A grand jury refused to indict. Not a single grand juror voted for it, which is almost unheard of in federal cases where prosecutors typically have enormous influence over grand jury proceedings.

You know what that tells you? Even grand jurors selected through the normal process can smell political theater when it’s this obvious.

Pirro’s office has also been chasing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, seeking to subpoena records about building renovations and comments Powell made to Congress. The Federal Reserve is fighting those subpoenas behind closed doors. The whole mess remains under seal because of grand jury secrecy rules, but the pattern is clear enough. This isn’t about justice or accountability. It’s about settling scores.

I’m a conservative. I believe in limited government and the rule of law. Those principles matter precisely because they constrain power and prevent it from being weaponized against political opponents. What we’re watching here is the opposite of conservative governance. It’s using federal prosecutorial power as a cudgel against enemies, real or imagined.

Biden called Trump’s attacks false at the time and dismissed them as distractions. He was right. They were distractions. Worse, they were distractions that wasted taxpayer money and prosecutorial resources that could’ve been spent on actual crimes.

The irony is thick enough to cut with a knife. Trump spent years complaining about the “weaponization” of the Justice Department against him. Some of those complaints had merit. The Russia investigation dragged on forever. The multiple indictments against him raised legitimate questions about prosecutorial discretion and political motivation. But now his own administration is doing exactly what he claimed to oppose.

This isn’t what winning looks like. This is what happens when political revenge becomes policy.

Pirro posted on social media Thursday that her office “cannot comment on ongoing investigations.” That’s rich considering this particular investigation is closed. Maybe she’s referring to the other questionable probes her office is running. Hard to keep track at this point.

The Justice Department exists to enforce laws, not to validate conspiracy theories cooked up in political strategy sessions. Federal prosecutors have real work to do. Organized crime. Terrorism. Public corruption that actually exists rather than phantom autopen scandals.

Every hour spent chasing Biden’s signature machine is an hour not spent on legitimate threats to public safety. That should bother conservatives more than anyone. We’re supposed to be the party that wants government to do less, not waste time on political witch hunts that go nowhere.

The autopen probe is dead. Good riddance. Now maybe we can get back to actual governance instead of whatever this was supposed to be.

Related: Minnesota Democrats Silenced Gun Expert Because They Know Their Laws Won’t Work