Republican Representative James Comer, who is leading the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into former president Joe Biden’s use of autopen, has used a digital signature on letters related to the probe, according to NBC News.
Comer has utilized the tool, akin to the autopen, that allows staffers or assistants to place his signature on an official document without requiring a “wet signature”, one physically made with ink on paper, NBC News first reported Tuesday.
Using Adobe Acrobat, the outlet reviewed the metadata of several letters and subpoena notices that Comer sent to various individuals requesting their compliance with the investigation. Several showed the use of a digital signature.
“Comer using an autopen to investigate an autopen is just so James,” Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida wrote on X. “That’s what we love about him, his attention to detail.”
However, Comer did appear to use a wet signature on the actual subpoena.
In response to The Independent, Comer’s office sent a link to an X post made by the House Oversight Committee chairman which showed NBC reporter Ryan Nobles, an author of the original story, with clown make-up super-imposed on his face. “There’s still time to delete this, Ryan,” Comer wrote on X, in an apparent reference to the NBC news story.
The House Oversight Committee has sent letters to at least eight people connected to the Biden administration, including his former physician, requesting interviews to determine Biden’s cognitive state while serving as president.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have accused Biden staff of making decisions on behalf of the former president, by using the autopen when he was unaware.
Trump has called the allegations a “tremendous scandal” and claimed that Biden “knew nothing about what he was signing.”
Trump and others have theorized that Biden’s frequent use of the autopen, a commonly used practice among presidents and officials, is directly correlated to his alleged mental decline.
Biden has denied the allegations. The former president told the New York Times over the weekend that he made “every decision” but used the autopen to sign off on certain documents, such as clemency and pardons issued at the end of his term.
Using an autopen or digital signature is legally binding.
However, Comer has said he believes it is inappropriate when used on legal documents.
Earlier this month, Comer told Newsmax that he and other lawmakers, along with Trump, use “an autopen” when signing correspondence due to the high volume of messages they receive.
“But no one uses an autopen for legal documents. I can’t use an autopen to sign subpoenas. That’s my legal document – subpoenas. I have to fly back to Washington, D.C., just to sign one piece of paper,” Comer said.
A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told NBC News: “Using digital signatures for official correspondence is a common practice for both Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives. Chairman Comer has never hidden the fact that he uses a digital signature when appropriate, and he approves all official correspondence that is signed digitally.”
The committee spokesperson said that any “legally binding subpoenas” issued by Comer “always bear a wet signature.”
“Comparing Chairman Comer’s use of digital signatures for letters to the unauthorized use of an autopen in the Biden White House for legally binding executive actions is absurd and misleading. The two are not even remotely comparable,” the spokesperson added.
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