**Ashley Biden files for divorce after 13 years; oversight chair says Biden autopen use could face legal tests**
Ashley Biden, the 44-year-old daughter of former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, has filed for divorce from her husband, plastic surgeon Dr. Howard Krein, after 13 years of marriage.
She submitted the paperwork Monday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, according to The New York Post. Details of the complaint are not public under Philadelphia court rules, and the reason for the split was not immediately clear.
The same day, Biden posted an Instagram story showing her walking through a park and giving a thumbs-up, set to Beyoncé’s “Freedom.” She also shared a quote: “New life, new beginnings, means new boundaries. New ways of being that won’t look or sound like they did before.”
Biden and Krein married in June 2012 in Greenville, Delaware, two years after her late older brother, Beau Biden, introduced them. They later lived in Philadelphia, where Krein works as an otolaryngologist and facial plastic surgeon. The couple have no children.
Ashley referenced the wedding last year when she introduced her father at the Democratic National Convention. She told the crowd that even while serving as vice president, he helped set up the reception, riding a John Deere four-wheeler, arranging place settings and plants, and becoming “very emotional.”
**Oversight inquiry and autopen questions**
Separately this week, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said his committee’s investigation into former President Biden’s mental fitness could be used to challenge some of Biden’s pardons and executive actions. Comer argued that staff have not shown Biden understood what was being signed in his final months in office.
Speaking to Just the News, Comer pointed to frequent use of an autopen. “It’s questionable whether or not it’s legal to use an autopen on a legal document, but what’s not questionable is if the President of the United States had no idea what was being signed with using the autopen in his name,” he said. “Then, you know, that’s not legal. We could see criminal charges against some.”
Comer said the committee’s findings might also be used to question some clemency grants, citing Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate as raising doubts about his capacity. Biden left the race about a month later and endorsed Kamala Harris.
“I think at the end of the day, our investigation … could be used as evidence in trying to overturn some of those pardons and some of the executive orders, because the autopen was used so frequently … after that debate,” Comer said.
**Legal views on signatures and approval**
Former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told Just the News in March that such challenges would “end up in court.” He identified two issues: the type of document signed—whether a pardon or a bill—and the nature of the autopen itself.
On legislation, Dershowitz noted the Constitution’s language: “If he approves, he shall sign it.” An autopen, he said, “would raise a real problem if he signed it by autopen, which is not a real signature.” On pardons, the question would be whether Biden actually granted them or whether someone else applied the signature without his genuine approval.
**Debate and memory concerns**
Biden’s first debate of the 2024 cycle was widely described as halting and disoriented. Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said there was “a sense of shock” at how Biden opened the debate and that “the panic had set in.”
Republicans had long questioned Biden’s mental acuity. Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents described him as likely to present as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur said Biden could not recall the years he served as vice president or the year Beau Biden died.
Last month, Biden told The New York Times he “made every decision” on pardons. Aides, however, confirmed he did not individually approve each name on categorical pardons.
Neither Ashley Biden nor Howard Krein has issued a public statement on the divorce. Comer’s committee has not announced criminal referrals, and any effort to unwind pardons or executive actions would face significant legal and constitutional hurdles.
