Rep. James Comer mocks NBC story equating his digital signature with Biden's autopen scandal

Fox News

16-07-2025

House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., ripped NBC News and one of its reporters on Tuesday for a story equating his use of a digital signature with the Biden administration's use of an autopen.
NBC reporters Ryan Nobles and Melanie Zanona wrote that while Comer leads the investigation into former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen, they found evidence that letters and subpoena notices sent for the probe used Comer's digital signature.
"He has sent 16 letters to former Biden White House officials requesting transcribed interviews," they wrote. "In all 16 of those letters, metadata reveals his signature was a digital picture inserted into the letter."
The story was seen by many, including Comer himself, as a way of attempting to obfuscate the controversy surrounding the alleged cover-up of Biden's mental decline while in office.
"There's still time to delete this, Ryan," Comer wrote on his congressional X account, adding an altered photo of Nobles reporting on the story on NBC News Live as a clown.
Comer posted other comments on his personal X account similarly attacking the report.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Comer doubled down, calling NBC "Fake News" and "Democrat propaganda."
"It's clear Fake News NBC is where journalism goes to die, and Democrat propaganda goes to thrive. We are closing in on one of the greatest scandals in American history. The fact that the NBC hacks don't know the difference between the authorized use of digital signature and the unauthorized use of autopen for executive actions is all you need to know," Comer said.
The House Oversight Committee's X account added, "Ryan is out here cosplaying as a journalist while Biden's staff played Weekend at Bernie's with executive powers and an autopen. Imagine watching a constitutional crisis unfold and deciding your big scoop is Adobe Acrobat on cover letters. Touch grass, Ryan."
NBC News didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other X users mocked the story for making an "apples-to-oranges" comparison to spout Democratic talking points.
"The scandal around Biden isn't that he simply used an autopen to sign pardons, it's that based on the reporting, he was UNAWARE of the people receiving pardons. So I'm struggling to see how this is newsworthy, outside of being a lame attempt at rapid response for Democrats," Republican strategist Andrew Surabian wrote.
"The fact that NBC News doesn't know that this is an apples-to-oranges comparison is a HUGE problem. This isn't journalism; this is a shameless effort to launder Democrat talking points," conservative commentator Steve Guest wrote.
He added, "Stories like this one are how people can know NBC is just a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party."
National Journalism Center program director T. Becket Adams joked, "How did the press 'miss' the story of Biden's cognitive decline??"
In a follow-up tweet, he added, "Contrary to what so many journalists seem to believe, you are not, in fact, morally or contractually obligated to publish every piece of oppo provided by a Democratic office."
"You can actually say, 'No, thank you. This is a very stupid 'gotcha,' and publishing it under my name will make me look like a weapons-grade moron.' Be free, little ones. Be free!" Adams joked.
Substack writer Jim Treacher commented, "Remember when they claimed they merely 'missed the story'? That was, of course, a lie."
"@RepJamesComer has full control of his mind and staff. Biden did not. The distinction matters," Rep. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote.
Co-founder and CEO of The Federalist Sean Davis wrote, "Imagine being so stupid and corrupt as to write this article and think it's even remotely analogous to a cabal of White House staffers taking advantage of a president with dementia and using his mental infirmity as an excuse to commandeer the powers of the presidency."
"I'm trying to understand why this was written, other than to push Democrat propaganda and avoid covering the investigation into Biden's decline. Is the argument from @ryanoblesand @MZanona that Comer doesn't know he's sending these letters/subpoenas he talks about all the time?" Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway asked.
Republicans have attacked the Biden administration's use of an autopen on a number of executive orders and other official documents after years of concerns about Biden's declining mental acuity. Comer and other GOP members have accused staff members of using the autopen to sign off on orders without Biden's full consent.
One example included Biden granting clemency and pardoning more than 1,500 individuals, in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.
In an interview with the New York Times on Thursday, Biden defended the use of the autopen by insisting he "made every decision" on his own.
However, the Times reported that Biden "did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people," according to the former president and his aides.
Instead of repeatedly asking the president to re-sign updated versions of official documents, his staff used an autopen to put Biden's signature on the final version.