Solar panels at the background as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to Vernon Electric Cooperative in Westby, Wisconsin, U.S., September 5, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The Independent reports the leader of a Biden investigation is practicing what he condemns. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is heading 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, say sources.
Comer’s digital signature allows staff and assistants to insert his signature on an official document without requiring ink on paper, according to NBC News, which used Adobe Acrobat to inspect the metadata of letters and subpoena notices Comer sent to recipients.
Several of the letters requesting compliance or information on investigations indicated the use of a digital signature, despite President Donald Trump and his allies pushing autopen conspiracies to dismantle Biden’s orders and policies. Trump ordered an investigation into Biden’s use of inkless signatures last month, calling it “one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”
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But Biden recently told the Times: “I made every decision.”
Regardless, Comer took up Trump’s call and sent 16 letters to former Biden White House officials requesting transcribed interviews. NBC News reports all of them contain metadata revealing his signature to be a digital picture inserted into the letter. Comer has also sent letters to former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Conner and Anthony Bernal, and the cover letters for those subpoenas were also signed with digital images. The metadata of one letter suggested the signature source to be “Mitchell Benzine,” rather than Comer himself.
“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,” a House Oversight Committee spokeswoman told NBC News.
The spokesman added that comparing Comer’s use of digital signatures for letters to legally binding executive actions from the Biden White House was “absurd and misleading.”
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“The two are not even remotely comparable,” the spokesman added.
“Comer using an autopen to investigate an autopen is just so James,” posted Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.). “That’s what we love about him, his attention to detail.”
Read the full Independent report at this link.
