With a recent piece in The New York Times appearing to point to mass pardons being issued without Joe Biden's individual approval, the "autopen scandal" has heated up. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has been leading an investigation into exactly who was making the decisions as the former president's mental and physical health continued to deteriorate in the final years of his term. That makes Comer a prime target for the press, as they desperately try to deflect from their own role in covering up Biden's senility.
SEE: Biden's Autopen Scandal Grows As It's Revealed Who Approved Pardons for Fauci, Others
Enter NBC News, which decided to drop the Uno reverse card with hilarious results. According to the report, Comer hasn't been signing his own subpoenas in the investigation into Biden. Rather, he's been using a digital signature. There are some big problems with that assertion, but let's hear the two reporters who wrote this story out first.
The House Oversight Committee chair used a digital signature to send out letters and subpoena notices related to the Biden autopen investigation. https://t.co/Worzea6MN6
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 15, 2025
WASHINGTON — Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has been leading the probe into Joe Biden’s cognitive state during his presidency, with Republicans alleging that Biden's occasional use of an “autopen” to sign documents — a practice other presidents have done as well — demonstrated that he wasn’t fully in control or aware of what his administration was doing.
But documents show that some of the letters and subpoena notices Comer has sent out in connection to his investigation have been signed using a digital signature — not written by the congressman himself.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly pushed the autopen theory to undermine Biden and his policies. In June, Trump ordered an investigation into the matter and said it was “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.” Biden has denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous and false.”
Let's start with the obvious. Letters and "subpoena notices" aren't presidential pardons. So, to the extent that Comer used a digital signature, there's still a distinct difference in the context. With that said, where NBC News misses the boat is that Comer did use a wet signature to sign the original subpoenas in question. That's why the use of the word "subpoena notices" is purposely misleading.
Some online noticed that immediately and comically pondered whether reporter Ryan Nobles had ever used Adobe before.
I can't believe this is real. pic.twitter.com/NxZfhkEsFR
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 15, 2025
The second point here is that a digital signature is not an autopen. If you sign something digitally, that is an acknowledgment that you signed it just as if you used a pen. The allegation against Biden isn't that someone used the autopen at his direct behest, but that they used it on pardons that he wasn't personally aware of.
Again, the Times report has already essentially admitted that, though the excuse being used is that Biden had dictated "categories" or people to pardon, leaving the details up to his staffers. I'm pretty sure Comer didn't just give his staff "categories" of people to send subpoena notices to, so the NBC News attempt to reverse this scandal has now failed on multiple fronts.
As I've explained, while I believe nothing legally will come of this investigation because of how absolute and broad the pardon power is (the Constitution does not technically require a direct signature, nor are pardons reviewable by the legislative or judicial branches), Comer's investigation should still happen. The public deserves to know the truth so they can hold future politicians accountable, even if Biden is now publicly denying any wrongdoing.
This isn't what journalism is supposed to be. It's not supposed to exist as some kind of partisan information operation that only arises when it's time to try to turn things around on Republicans. Why hasn't NBC News assigned a team of reporters to dig into whether Biden knew about the pardons or not? Isn't that more newsworthy than taking these lame, easily debunked shots at Comer? But we all know that's not how the mainstream press operates.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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