Joe Biden Presidency thread *Please read OP - Threadbanned Users Added 4/5/21*

MEMO TO INTERESTED PARTIES

From: Ian Sams, Special Assistant to the President and WH Oversight Spokesperson

Date: August 11, 2023

Re: One Year Since Comer Vowed ‘Credibility,’ How’s That Going?

One year ago today, Politico published a long profile of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in which he “emphasized it’s his priority to ensure the oversight panel’s work remains ‘credible,’” and promised that he wouldn’t be “chasing some of these right-wing blogs and some of their conspiracy theories.” He was “not going to declare a probe or an investigation unless we have proof,” he vowed, and pledged that he was “committed to ensuring both parties take his investigations seriously” so that he could “make a bipartisan impact.”

How has that gone for Chairman Comer?

In the year since he made these vows, Comer has unquestionably broken them. He has completely undermined his own credibility and the credibility of his committee by rushing to book appearances on right-wing media – including appearing more than 50 times on conservative TV and radio in one month alone – to tout breathless conspiracy theories and trumpet false allegations, all while wasting time and millions of taxpayer dollars on a wild goose chase that has turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden.

Comer has told big lies and small ones, from repeatedly peddling debunked allegations in his relentless attempts to smear Joe Biden, to trafficking in fringe conspiracy theories, to reportedly lying about something as basic as showing up to a transcribed interview with a witness:

• Washington Post: “The head of the House Oversight Committee has amassed a flurry of credibility issues in a remarkably short period of time… The challenge for Republicans is that at least one of the legislators driving their investigations into Biden has repeatedly tripped over his allegations or offered claims that he couldn’t substantiate.”

• New York Times: “And since the Republican aim is getting revenge and sowing confusion, not actually proving high crimes and misdemeanors, they may be able to use the obscurity of the allegations — and the need to plunge down various rabbit holes to understand them — to their advantage. Rather than make a specific case, Republicans are trying to foment the cynical sense that scandal surrounds Biden just as it does Trump. The point is not to hold anyone accountable for actual wrongdoing but to parody the process of trying.”

• In February, Comer suggested without evidence that the Chinese spy balloon could be a bioweapon from Wuhan, asking, “Is that bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?”

• Daily Beast: James Comer Has a New, Unlikely Story for Missed Deposition

⸰ “There are plenty of reasons to doubt Comer’s suggestion that he was participating remotely in the interview. For one, in the official transcript of the interview released last week, Comer does not identify himself, nor does anyone else allude to his presence…‘There’s just no way he **** called in,’ said a senior GOP source.”

He’s stooped to new lows, from allowing explicit images to be displayed at a Congressional hearing to lamenting that President Biden’s deceased son, Beau Biden, wasn’t prosecuted while he was still alive:

• During a House Oversight hearing, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez called Comer out for marking “a new low” for allowing “pornographic images” to be “paraded” in the hearing.

⸰ Ocasio-Cortez: “Chairman Comer, last October you told Time Magazine that you were not interested in the ‘sordid details’ of Hunter Biden’s life. You were quoted as saying that’s ‘counter to a credible investigation,’ and I agree. Sadly, that is a reflection of how low some individuals here have been willing to go in their efforts to attack the President and his family.”

• The Daily Beast: House Oversight Chair Laments That Joe Biden’s Dead Son Was Never Prosecuted

⸰ “Fuming that the Trump-appointed attorney probing Hunter Biden hasn’t yet brought up charges, Comer then invoked Beau Biden and wondered why he wasn’t indicted at some point.”

Comer has hidden evidence from the public and the Committee minority, ignores when witnesses have contradicted his false allegations, and still insists that an individual who has been indicted for arms trafficking and working as a Chinese agent has the “credibility” to serve as a witness in his probe:

• Comer has withheld information from witness interviews that don’t fit his narrative, including from the Committee’s interview with Hunter Biden business associate Eric Schwerin, who stated that he “was not aware of any involvement by President Biden in the financial conduct of the President’s relatives’ businesses.” Comer has also so far refused to release the transcript of the Committee’s interview with a former FBI agent who apparently testified against some of House Republicans claims about the Justice Department and the Bidens.

⸰ Violating his pledge to work across the aisle, Comer has also withheld evidence from the Committee minority, despite House rules that committee records be shared with every member of the committee.

• Comer refuses to acknowledge that Hunter Biden’s former business partner testified he was not aware of “any wrongdoing” by Joe Biden.

• Comer has continued to insist a witness has “credibility” even after he was indicted for illegal arms trafficking and working as a Chinese agent.

And over and over again, independent reporting has found his investigation has been unable to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing:

• New York Times: “The Republicans conceded that they had yet to find evidence of a specific corrupt action Mr. Biden took in office in connection with any of the business deals his son entered into. Instead, their presentation underscored how little headway top G.O.P. lawmakers have made in finding clear evidence of questionable transactions they can tie to Mr. Biden, their chief political rival.”

• Axios: “By Republicans’ own admission, the investigation into alleged Biden family corruption has yet to uncover specific evidence of wrongdoing by the president himself.”

• CNN: “House Oversight Chairman James Comer, for instance, insisted that his investigation had unearthed plentiful material to suggest wrongdoing by the president, saying his probe was like ‘tracking a bleeding bear through a snowstorm. There’s evidence everywhere.’ The Kentucky Republican did not reveal the nature of any such evidence.”

In the year since his vow to be “credible” and avoid the conspiracy theories pervasive on “right-wing blogs,” all Comer has done is feed that very right-wing echo chamber with lies, distortions, and misinformation — eliminating his own credibility and proving his investigation is nothing but a failed, evidence-free political stunt meant to smear the President. He has failed to even come close to meeting the standards he set for himself and the House Oversight Committee and has trafficked in the same ugly attacks he once claimed were counter to a credible investigation.

The James Comer of August 2023 wouldn’t recognize the James Comer of August 2022 — so perhaps he should consider his own actions and reconsider these baseless partisan stunts. House Republicans should abandon these credibility-free efforts intended only to damage the President, regardless of the truth, and instead choose to work with the President on the issues the American people elected them to prioritize like continuing to reduce inflation, create jobs and grow the economy.