James Comer claims Republicans have ‘proven the crimes’ against Bidens
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer suggested Wednesday that Republicans “have proven the crimes” against the Biden family and are now in the “accountability” phase of their impeachment probe.
Without specifying precisely what laws he believes the first family violated, Comer (R-Ky.) highlighted several messy transactions and doubled down on his demand for the president to testify.
“We’ve had three Biden associates that said [President Biden] was the closer of … selling the Biden brand,” Comer told Fox Business Network’s “Morning with Maria.”
“We’ve proven the crimes. Now it’s time to hold people accountable for the crimes and Joe Biden needs to answer some questions in front of the Oversight Committee.”
Those three associates Comer referenced appear to be Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, all of whom previously testified before investigators with the Biden impeachment inquiry.
When asked by The Post for clarification, an Oversight Committee spokesperson said Wednesday the impeachment probe “unearthed a record of evidence revealing Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ his family sold to enrich the Bidens.”
“Joe Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from these corrupt schemes and the House Oversight Committee intends to issue a comprehensive report that will address criminal violations at the end of our investigation,” the spokesperson added.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Comer further claimed that “we’ve proven the Bidens were influence-peddling” and “we’ve proven they’ve taken in tens of millions of dollars.”
President Biden and his allies have repeatedly rejected Comer’s characterizations of the first family’s business affairs and adamantly rebuffed the notion that Joe Biden played a significant role.
Last month, Comer invited President Biden to testify before his panel and floated April 16 as a possible date. So far, the White House has declined to take up the offer, which would be historically rare. The last president to testify before Congress was Gerald Ford in 1974.
“We have not heard back from President Biden but the White House is spending every second of their free time trying to attack me,” Comer complained. “And do everything they can to discredit the investigation.”
In the letter inviting the commander-in-chief to testify, Comer claimed, “The Committee has accounted for over $24 million that has flowed from foreign sources to you, your family, and their business associates.”
The chairman underscored, “The Committee has identified no legitimate services to merit such lucrative payments.”
On Wednesday, Comer called the $24 million a “very conservative” estimate, adding that his team gave both James and Hunter Biden an opportunity to explain where it came from, but “they couldn’t do it.”
“We know from the [special counsel Robert] Hur report that Joe Biden is a forgetful old man, but you can’t play that forgetful old man card every time, especially when you’re running for re-election,” Comer chided.
“His family has committed a lot of crime. He’s been the central figure, according to three of these associates, in these crimes.”
The Kentucky Republican has long claimed that the Biden family has engaged in influence-peddling schemes abroad.
Although Comer has publicly admitted that he “would vote to impeach Joe Biden right now,” he’s also conceded that the “math keeps getting worse” in terms of the support of his fellow House Republicans.
The White House has repeatedly pushed back against Comer’s allegations and contended that the impeachment probe is collapsing.
“Comer knows 20+ witnesses have testified that POTUS did nothing wrong. He knows that the hundreds of thousands of pages of records he’s received have refuted his false allegations,” White House spokesperson on oversight and investigations Ian Sams said last month in response to the invitation to have Joe Biden testify.
“This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment.”
Comer also briefly touched on letters his team blasted out Tuesday to the Justice Department and IRS in response to “serious allegations” of retaliation against two IRS whistleblowers who alleged a cover-up in the federal investigation of Hunter Biden.
“We have sources that would lead us to believe that — all indications point to that — this administration has clearly retaliated against Mr. [Gary] Shapley and Mr. [Joseph] Ziegler,” Comer explained.
“Everything our committee, the House Oversight Committee, should do pertaining to whistleblowers is to protect those whistleblowers and to ensure that the federal government does not retaliate against those whistleblowers,” he continued. “That’s clearly what’s taking place.”
