NBC News is under fire from conservatives — and even some centrist critics — after running what’s being widely described as a misguided attempt to create moral equivalence between President Joe Biden’s autopen use and Rep. James Comer’s digital signature on official House correspondence.
The controversy stems from a Monday segment by NBC anchors Ryan Nobles and Melanie Zanona, who tried to link Comer’s use of a digital signature to Biden’s mass use of an autopen, including in the signing of thousands of presidential pardons. But instead of landing a “gotcha” moment, NBC ignited backlash for what critics say is a deflection strategy thinly disguised as journalism.
Digital signatures are common and legally recognized in nearly all government offices, especially in administrative correspondence. Unlike autopen use in high-level executive action, digital signatures require direct authentication by the signer and are often timestamped and traceable. The key difference — and the heart of the matter — is intent and oversight.
“NBC didn’t expose anything except its own hypocrisy,” one Hill staffer told The Federalist. “Trying to spin Comer’s digital sign-offs into an equivalency with Biden’s autopen pardons is laughable and desperate.”
What critics are pointing to — and what NBC failed to address — is the deeper constitutional and ethical concern: Did Biden personally authorize the pardons he signed via autopen? Or were unelected staffers making final decisions on clemency while the president — allegedly cognitively impaired — was merely a ceremonial figurehead?
Biden’s sweeping use of the autopen, particularly in high-stakes legal instruments like pardons, has sparked ongoing congressional scrutiny. Republicans and transparency advocates argue that no system of checks and balances can function properly if the person at the top is not engaged or even aware of what’s being signed in their name.
A recent Washington Examiner column summarized the frustration:
“Instead of investigating a possible immense political scandal, many in the media pedantically focused on the ‘autopens.’”
NBC’s framing appears to have backfired. By focusing on Comer — who used a verified, traceable, and routine digital signature — the network has been accused of trying to distract from the real issue: the possibility that thousands of presidential actions were carried out without the president’s conscious involvement.
NBC also acknowledged, perhaps inadvertently, that legal subpoenas typically require wet signatures, undermining their own argument by differentiating between administrative tools and substantive authority.
