comer bengh 2 bak

===

see main trifecta

see weaponization jordan 3

benghazi bs not a fail till fox says?

oversight rank member doge coup

see fox watters bartiromo

ALEC alum

no merri

see benghazi BS investigation hunter laptop

bak 4 23

AN 4 26

Dems accuse GOP of using sneaky tactic to block Epstein investigation - Alternet.org

GOP leaders accused of 'quietly' supressing Epstein case with new tactic - Alternet.org

Democrats are sounding the alarm on a new tactic that GOP leadership in the House is using to "quietly" suppress further inquiries into the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a new report from Politico.

Speaking with the outlet for the Tuesday report, Democrats accused House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, of using "a new strategy" to "contain" the ability of lawmakers to issue subpoenas against "high-profile figures in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation." Before this, Politico noted that "Members of both parties have for months been hijacking House Oversight Committee business to call votes" on such subpoenas.

As the Epstein story escalated over the last year, a handful of Republicans broke with President Donald Trump to join Democrats in voting for these subpoenas, including one that led to testimony from former Attorney General Pam Bondi. This process was also used for "a surprise motion to release the full Epstein files when top congressional Republicans were dragging their feet."

"The Kentucky Republican’s workaround, they allege, is to hold 'roundtables' on various issues within the panel’s jurisdiction rather than hearings," the report explained. "Roundtables are more informal and don’t permit members to offer motions to subpoena witnesses during unrelated committee business, as is allowed during hearings."

Politico obtained a new memo prepared by Democratic Oversight staffers, outlining the complaints in detail and alleging that Republicans "are avoiding the only forum where Democrats can force votes, demand documents, and hold the majority accountable."

“We’ve heard from committee members, both Republicans and Democrats, that they are frustrated,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said in an interview Monday. “We have important investigative work, and they want to do this right as we are in the middle of this single, largest government cover-up in the modern history of the Congress. And they want to neuter the Oversight Committee. Give me a break.”

A representative for the GOP staff on the Oversight committee did not give an answer when pressed as to whether or not these roundtables were being used to decrease the number of subpoena votes.

“Roundtables provide opportunities to have more substantive and direct conversations with ordinary Americans about issues facing communities across the U.S.,” the spokesperson said.

"But the members’ subpoena free-for-all over the past nine months has undoubtedly created a complicated political dynamic for Comer," Politico detailed. "He has become the de facto leader of the congressional Epstein probe, forcing him to balance calls for transparency with the political fallout of Trump’s onetime relationship with the late, convicted sex offender.Republicans have noticed the connection between the spike in subpoenas and the subsequent increase in roundtables in lieu of hearings."

Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, made an oblique reference to this trend and its purpose during a March roundtable meeting on mental health.

“It’s no secret why we are not doing a formal hearing today," the lawmaker said. "We’d like this hearing to be solely focused on the issue before you, and there is some concern that — both parties are guilty of this — that they make motions in the middle of the hearing and try to bring up unrelated topics.”

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HILLARY EPSTEIN DEPOS ASKED ABOUT UFO AND PIZZAGATE

:{CALLS VILE; her written st rips new one; comer told up front this will not go well, we are better at it; see hcr

hillary siad comer? asked legit q at end? not of her?

2 26 26

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rww

07/21/2025

Kyle Mantyla

Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Tulsi Gabbard’s Desperate Russia Hail Mary Knocked Down By GOP’s Own Findings

As the news cycle enters its third week of “Epstein Files” frenzy, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence pick, Tulsi Gabbard, is throwing a Hail Mary—an obvious and cynical distraction. But a GOP-led Senate Intelligence report from five years ago is more than enough to swat it down.

David Edwards @ Raw Story: Michael Flynn floats 'military trial for Obama' despite presidential immunity

Disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn suggested former President Barack Obama should face a "military trial" after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused him of a "treasonous conspiracy" to undermine Donald Trump's presidency.

Art Jipson @ The Conversation: How the QAnon movement entered mainstream politics – and why the silence on Epstein files matters.

Over time, what started as a baseless conspiracy on obscure platforms has migrated into the mainstream. It has influenced rhetoric and policy debates, and even reshaped the American political landscape. The foundational belief of many of the QAnon followers is that Trump is a heroic figure fighting the elite pedophile ring.

Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: Trump’s latest attempt to defuse the Epstein revolt: Point supporters at common enemies

President Donald Trump is seeking to reunify allies enraged by his administration’s repudiation of MAGA claims about late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein by offering up spurious attacks on common and familiar enemies: the media — in this case Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal — and former President Barack Obama.

Janna Brancolini @ The Daily Beast: Trump’s Autopen Attack Dog Vows to Review Biden’s SCOTUS Appointment

Amid the Jeffrey Epstein saga, Rep. James Comer claimed Joe Biden’s alleged autopen use was the “biggest scandal in the history of American politics.”

Thomas Joscelyn and Norman Eisen @ The Bulwark: Unfit to Serve: Jeanine Pirro Made Excuses for Jan. 6th

Senators weighing her nomination for U.S. attorney should revisit her remarks denigrating prosecutors and calling defendants “hostages.”

Russell Payne @ Salon: Meet the young Republicans who want to deport Zohran Mamdani

NYC's Young Republican club cosplays as a deadly political weapon, but may be less ferocious than it appears.

:{:{---}:

AN 525

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is scheduled to fly to the Illinois State Capitol on Wednesday for a press conference decrying the state's approach to immigration. Now, the Prairie State's Democratic chief executive is trolling Noem ahead of her visit.

Chicago Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson tweeted Tuesday that Gov. J.B. Pritzker's office issued an announcement ahead of Noem's arrival. The statement asked "all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection while the Secretary is in the region."

That statement is almost certainly a reference to Noem's autobiography in which she recalled taking her family dog, Cricket, into a gravel pit and shooting it to death because it wasn't good at hunting prey. After experiencing severe backlash over the passage, she later defended killing Cricket by pointing out that she also killed three horses in that same gravel pit.

Noem's office has stated that her press conference in Springfield, Illinois will "highlight how sanctuary policies in Illinois have unleashed violence on American citizens — including rape, sexual assault, murder, shoplifting, and more — while shielding illegal aliens responsible from facing consequence."

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However, Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough told the*Tribune* that Illinois is "fully compliant with federal law" regarding immigration, and that one state law House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized was "was bipartisan and signed into law by a Republican [former Governor Bruce Rauner]."

"Despite the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress, this public safety law ensures law enforcement can focus on doing their jobs well while empowering all members of the public, regardless of immigration status, to feel comfortable calling police officers and emergency services if they are in need of help," Gough said.

Pritzker — who is rumored to run for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination – has said he plans to "voluntarily appear" before Comer's committee alongside Govs. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and Tim Walz (D-Minn.) on June 12. Comer and committee Republicans plan to question the governors about their respective states' approach to enforcing federal immigration law.

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AN 4 25

President Donald Trump's top loyalists are angling to climb the political ladder to help secure the future for his ultra-MAGA movement—and position themselves for greater influence. House members like far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) are looking at the U.S. Senate, and far-right U.S. senators like Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reportedly see hope in governors' mansions.

Some critical U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle are retiring, like Republican former Majority and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and the second-highest-ranking Democrat senator, Dick Durbin of Illinois.

"Democrats anxious to deny Donald Trump and his Republican Party a governing trifecta as soon as possible are feeling pretty good about their prospects for flipping the House in 2026, given the GOP’s fragile margin of control and the historical pattern of sizable midterm losses for the president’s party," New York magazine's "Intelligencer" reported last month.

"But the Senate, which has the power to confirm Trump’s executive branch and judicial nominations, is really going to be a reach. Democrats would need to flip four Senate seats to win control of the chamber. And an already difficult landscape is being made even tougher by the retirements of Democratic incumbents Gary Peters of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and now Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. All three of these open seats could potentially trigger competitive races in 2026."

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Enter Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who went from a freshman stripped of all of her committee assignments over incendiary language, to becoming chair of the Delivering on Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) subcommittee. She also sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Congresswoman Greene is now thinking about becoming Senator Greene. If successful, her controversial tactics could have a dramatic impact on what is supposed to be the "world's greatest deliberative body."

Rep. Greene is reportedly eyeing a run to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, and believes she would “crush” any GOP primary opponent—except Governor Brian Kemp, should he choose to enter the race—according to the right-wing website Daily Caller.

"Republicans are laser-focused on defeating Ossoff, whose narrow victory over former Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue in a January 2021 runoff election was partly responsible for costing Senate Republicans their majority during the 2020 cycle," Daily Caller notes, adding, "Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state that Trump won last November."

Could Greene beat Ossoff?

"This would be a dream for Dems in Georgia," should Greene run, observed veteran journalist Lydia Polgreen.

"Somewhere at the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] some operative is frantically wondering if there is anything they can do to ensure this happens," wrote University of Pennsylvania political and media historian Brian Rosenwald.

A Daily Caller source also suggested Ossoff would retain his Senate seat, especially should the election move into a runoff. And Ossoff "has been taunting Greene to jump into the race."

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is reportedly mapping out a run for the Alabama Governor's mansion.

"Tuberville told a group of donors at a private event on Wednesday night that his mind is officially made up," the conservative website Yellowhammer News reported. "Rather than seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate, he is ready to run his next race in Alabama, and serve the people of the state in Montgomery instead of Washington.

An official campaign announcement is imminent in the coming weeks, but latest reports offer insight into a finalized decision by Tuberville, who has been privately discussing jumping into the 2026 gubernatorial race for quite some time."

Senator Tuberville reportedly is "furious" at the leak, according to an opinion column at Alabama Political Reporter.

"Tuberville melted down like a plastic lawn chair in July. By Thursday morning, the whispers had turned into headlines. Then Tuberville took to Facebook — and things got weird."

“While I appreciate all the interest,” Tuberville wrote, “Suzanne and I are still praying about how to best serve the people of Alabama. When I have an official announcement about my future, you’ll hear it directly from me.”

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a top "Trump loyalist," is "strongly looking" at a run for the Tennessee governor's mansion.

The Tennessean reports that "early polling suggests she would likely be the Republican frontrunner. Some politicos across the state consider her success a foregone conclusion: at a Tennessee Chamber of Commerce event in January, attendees called her 'Gov. Blackburn.'"

And U.S. Rep. Jim Comer (R-KY), the chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee, has also said he would be interested in running for governor.

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rww 12/18/2024

Kyle Mantyla

Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: The Christian Nationalist “TheoBros” Have, Uh, Thoughts About Antisemitism

A simmering divide over how Christians should regard Judaism has ignited into a conflagration. The resulting rift has left two factions of TheoBros retreating into their separate camps—one of which is doubling down on antisemitic rhetoric to a widening audience.

Alayna Treene, Manu Raju and Sarah Ferris @ CNN: In reversal, key House panel votes to release Matt Gaetz ethics report

The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.

Adam Nichols @ Raw Story: 'We just played it!’ James Comer denial shot down when CNN plays clip of his own words

Congressman James Comer (R-KY) denied a central part of his investigation into President Joe Biden’s son on CNN Wednesday — but was played a previous TV recording of his own words that shot down his claims.

John Fea @ Current: The Washington D.C. Archdiocese to Sean Feucht: Please get off our lawn

Sean Feucht, a prominent conservative Christian activist with ties to President-elect Donald J. Trump, announced this week that he would headline a rally at a Catholic parish in Washington on the night before the inauguration. The problem: He had not received approval from the parish, St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill, or from the archdiocese of Washington.

David Covucci @ The Daily Dot: Nancy Mace is always on TV—because she dropped $165,000 on a news booker

Nancy Mace’s former staff said she always wanted to be on TV. Campaign finance reports confirm that.

an 12 24

Comments made by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY)noted in a recent Bulwark report drew a scathing response from "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough on Thursday morning.

Discussing Donald Trump's desire to have lawmakers who investigated him over the Jan 6 insurrection hauled in and prosecuted, Comer claimed they were fair game.

According to the Bulwark, the Republican from Kentucky replied, "With politicians, if you’ve used a congressional committee and you’ve lied and tried to set people up and falsely imprisoned people, then you should be held accountable."

ALSO READ:A dark mystery from America's past could save us from Trump's tyranny

After co-host Mika Brzezinski read the quote, MSNBC's Scarborough pounced.

"Wow. I mean that's a hell of a confession by James Comer who lied repeatedly, repeatedly, about Joe Biden," he exclaimed.

"Is he going to send himself to jail? Is that what he is telling us right here," he asked with tongue in cheek.

Co-host Brzezinki carried on, reporting that Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) agreed with Comer, adding, "If they broke the law, then they should [be imprisoned]. Now we know that they’ve manipulated evidence, so—if that’s the case, then absolutely.”

Watch below or at the link here.

never fails to cheerlead/ threaten investigation and never fails to fail

an 12 24

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough expressed no interest in comments made by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Thursday morning during a segment about Donald Trump using the Department of Justice to pursue his political foes.

First taking a shot atHouse Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) for saying in an interview with the Bulwark, "With politicians, if you’ve used a congressional committee and you’ve lied and tried to set people up and falsely imprisoned people, then you should be held accountable," co-host Mika Brezinski began to report that Rep. Lauren Boebert contributed, “It’s not looking good for them. You know, they’re asking for their preemptive pardon. So it kind of sounds suspect and guilty. I think anybody who has politically imprisoned American citizens and completely ruined their lives needs to be investigated," but Scarborough cut her off quickly after she mentioned the controversial Colorado Republican's name.

ALSO READ:A dark mystery from America's past could save us from Trump's tyranny

"Alright, alright, I don't care," he interrupted which led the whole panel to start laughing as Scarborough referenced Boebert's Beetlejuice theater scandal by joking, "Go see a play," which led to more laughter.

Watch below or at the link.

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tabloid ny post fake outrage 12 24

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer demanded answers from the Selective Service agency for reposting a vulgar social media screed last month suggesting the US may be on a similar trajectory to Nazi Germany.

Although the report was subsequently scrubbed from the Selective Service’s official X account, Comer (R-Ky.) is keen on obtaining additional information on the matter and wants to ensure the perpetrator is fired.

“The Committee is deeply disturbed that an independent federal agency, tasked with registering and maintaining a system of individuals potentially subject to military conscription if authorized by the President and Congress, would re-post a wholly unsubstantiated, false, and contemptible claim,” Comer wrote in a letter to Selective Service System acting director Joel Spangenberg on Thursday.

8 24 jdv remorse, kh surge dnc hit so desperate to ctr pgm

fox moves on to Comer’s Walz-China smears as his Biden impeachment inquiry collapses

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 08/20/24

Fox News hasn’t learned any lessons from the collapse of its long-sought impeachment probe of President Joe Biden. The network’s biggest stars remain eager to peddle the GOP’s politically motivated investigations of Democrats in hopes of returning Donald Trump to the White House.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) announced on Friday that his committee had opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “longstanding connections to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and officials” and was seeking information from the FBI about the governor’s “problematic engagement” with China. While the connections are purportedly “longstanding,” Comer’s interest in them manifested just days after Vice President Kamala Harris named Walz as her running mate.

Comer pitched his new probe on Monday night to Fox’s Jesse Watters, who nodded along as the chairman claimed Walz “really has embraced China's view of the world, the Chinese ideology, which is communism.” Comer also cited Walz’s trips to China as an educator to claim that “it’s very possible” China had been “grooming” the Minnesota governor “to try to have a foothold in our government.”

“It says a lot about Kamala Harris that she picked this guy to be her No. 2,” concluded Watters, who is apparently incapable of subtext.

“Yes,” replied Comer, not pretending that his work is nonpartisan.

Video

CitationFrom the August 19, 2024, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime.

This is absurd. Walz is obviously not a communist; he’s a mainstream Democrat who regularly touts his work helping small business owners.

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Nor is Walz some sort of Manchurian candidate. Beginning in 1989, he frequently visited China as an educator in the 1990s and 2000s — first teaching in the country and later shepherding American students for visits — and has expressed admiration for its people. But as a member of Congress, Walz proved an “outspoken critic of the Chinese government,” The New York Times reported, noting his “sharp critiques of China’s human rights record” and meetings with dissidents from Tibet and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Trump’s companies received millions of dollars from Chinese government entities while he was in the White House, and the former president regularly praises Chinese president Xi Jinping and vouched for his efforts to contain COVID-19 as the virus spread worldwide — all without triggering concern from Comer or Fox’s hosts.

:{:{Comer’s McCarthyian turn on Fox came just hours after the chairman concluded his Biden impeachment inquiry with a whimper. House Republicans launched that investigation in response to pressure from Fox, which showered Comer with attention over his hapless probes into the business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter.}:

But the impeachment inquiry all but collapsed after the Justice Department indicted a key “informant” who had claimed the president had taken a hefty bribe for allegedly making up the story. The probe’s final report, released Monday morning, reveals “almost nothing … that wasn’t known or understood before the formal investigation began,” The Washington Post’s Philip Bump reported.}:

But Fox stars like Watters are happy to be used as a propaganda tool by the GOP, and so he’s seamlessly moved on to Comer’s next bit of nonsense.

“Please keep us posted on these developments, this is an important investigation,” Watters told Comer at the end of their interview. The House Republican will surely oblige him.

### Sean Hannity’s response to Trump’s Chinese bribes shows staggering contempt for his audience

:{:{01/05/24}:

### Fox News' failed attempt to use Hunter Biden to gin up an impeachment of his father, by the numbers

:{:{04/25/24}:

### Fox News helps James Comer keep on trucking with Biden impeachment farce

12/05/23

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6 24 an

less than twenty-fours hours after a damning report revealed House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer used his office as then-Kentucky Secretary of Agriculture to import for a campaign donor hemp seed from China that ultimately tested as marijuana, the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committee chairmen referred Hunter Biden and President Joe Biden’s brother, James Biden, to the U.S. Dept. of Justice for criminal prosecution, for allegedly lying.

House Committees typically take votes on criminal referrals, but Chairman Comer, along with Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith skipped any hearings or votes on the referral and shot off a joint letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Special Counsel prosecuting Hunter Biden on gun-related charges, David Weiss.

“No vote, just the direct referral,” reported HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney.

The move to refer the Bidens to DOJ also comes just one day after Attorney General Garland sat for nearly five hours before Chairman Jordan’s Judiciary Committee, where he was attacked for the State of New York’s criminal prosecution of Donald Trump. State and federal prosecutions are entirely separate and Garland had no oversight of that investigation and subsequent prosecution, trial, or conviction by jury.

It also comes just days after a New York jury convicted Donald Trump on 34 criminal felony counts of falsifying business records in an effort to cover up a conspiracy to protect and promote his presidential campaign by “unlawful means.”

The Daily Beast‘s Roger Sollenberger on Tuesday reported Chairman Comer “has hounded the Bidens over China and business ventures” while “state records reveal his own involvement in a hemp import plan gone spectacularly wrong.”

Sollenberger reported, “The Daily Beast obtained [documents] after the Kentucky government released them to a third party in response to open records requests.” Those documents “contain a stunning revelation: While the emails show the involved parties clearly intended to import only legal hemp, two rounds of tests revealed the plants were essentially Chinese pot, containing illegally high levels of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Chairmen Comer, Jordan, and Smith published their letter, which accuses both Hunter Biden and James Biden of “lies.”

Despite being unable to provide any evidence that could lead to a successful impeachment of President Joe Biden, an effort House Republicans began one day after he was inaugurated, Comer on social media claimed the committees “today sent criminal referrals to the DOJ recommending Hunter and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about key aspects of the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.”

“These false statements implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge of and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry.”

Back in March, Chairman Comer’s impeachment efforts in tatters, ABC News reported criminal referrals might be his “exit strategy.”

“At the end of the day, what does accountability look like? It looks like criminal referrals. It looks like referring people to the Department of Justice,” Comer said.

“The notion of issuing criminal referrals,” ABC added, “as part of the probe has gained traction among senior Republicans on Capitol Hill as the prospects of impeaching President Biden have dulled, multiple sources told ABC News, with one congressional Republican bluntly describing the move as an “exit strategy.”

See the letter below or at this link.

an 6 24

That’s a felony': Comer suggests arresting Dr. Fauci over social distancing guidance

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'MAGA-motivated conspiracies': Hunter Biden decimates Comer and Jordan in opening remarks - Alternet.org

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Comer announces public hearing after Hunter Biden closed door testimony - Alternet.org

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an 2 24

rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), chair of the House Oversight Committee, is still struggling to justify his efforts to impeach President Joe Biden, and he momentarily lost his cool with a reporter who picked apart his latest argument.

One of Comer's allegations of Biden's supposed corruption involves $240,000 he loaned to his brother, James, in 2018 — after his eight years as vice president but prior to his election in 2020. In a heated exchange on Capitol Hill posted to X/Twitter by journalist Aaron Rupar, a reporter repeatedly pointed out to Comer that the transaction in question didn't occur during Biden's time in the White House.

"What we've said over and over, Joe Biden took $200,000 directly from Americore Health—" Comer said, before the journalist reminded him that Biden "was a private citizen at the time of the $200,000 check."

"The 400, the $40,000—" Comer said, before the reporter interjected.

"I'm asking you, what specific action did he take as a public official, as an elected public official—"

"Ok, ok! Calm down! It's OK, all the angry liberals, they hear what you're saying, they'll be alright," Comer said as his voice increased in pitch.

CBS News reported in October that Americore Health, LLC, which manages rural hospitals, wired James Biden $200,000 in 2018, coincidentally on the same day James Biden wrote a check to his brother for the same amount. The following month, Politico reported that the $200,000, along with an additional $40,000, was repaid to Joe Biden by James and his wife Sara as part of a loan agreement. James Biden's attorney said Comer's assertions of shady business dealings was "selective and misleading," and that Joe Biden had never played a role in any of his brother's business relationships.

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an 2 24

one name that has been heard a lot in right-wing media outlets is Tony Bobulinski, an investor who House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) and other Republicans have been touting as their greatest weapon against Hunter Biden.

Bobulinski, according to many MAGA Republicans, will be the downfall of Hunter Biden and, by extension, his father, President Joe Biden.

But in an article published on February 13, Daily Beast reporters William Bredderman and Roger Sollenberger lay out some reasons why Bobulinski's "ties" make him a problematic witness.

:{":{As Republicans examine Hunter Biden's questionable business ties," the journalists explain, "it turns out Bobulinski is connected to one particular character perhaps more unsavory than any other figure in the inquiry's constellation: Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg…. a Ukrainian-born energy magnate who's been a close ally of Vladimir Putin for decades.}:"

Bredderman and Sollenberger note that in 2017, Vekselberg "reportedly funneled $500,000 to an LLC run by Donald Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, supposedly with the intention of influencing the new administration to let Russia illegally occupy parts of Eastern Ukraine."

"U.S. law enforcement has placed sanctions on Vekselberg multiple times, citing Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, and the oligarch's ties to Putin," the Daily Beast journalists explain. "Vekselberg tried to evade those sanctions with the help of an American attorney. But Republicans are trying to look past Bobulinski's ties to Vekselberg, as they paint Hunter Biden — dishonestly and without actual evidence — as a corrupt figure facilitating payments to his father."

Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).}}:

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'Parade of embarrassments': House Republicans privately turn on Comer for impeachment dud - Alternet.org

Tori Otten @ The New Republic: New Transcript Blows Up James Comer’s Entire Hunter Biden Argument.

A new transcript from a key Hunter Biden witness undercuts many of the claims Republicans are making about “Biden corruption.”:{

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an 12 23

far-right MAGA Republicans typically regard Fox News and Fox Businesses as safe spaces, expecting softball questions if they are interviewed by Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham or Maria Bartiromo. But House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) is avoiding the morning show "Fox and Friends" after being mildly challenged by long-time co-host Steve Doocy.

Comer has been pushing for an impeachment of President Joe Biden and trying to link him to his son Hunter Biden's legal problems. But when Comer appeared on "Fox and Friends" on Monday morning, December 11, Doocy told him, "They've connected the dots, the Department of Justice did, on Hunter, but they have not shown where Joe Biden, you know, did anything illegally."

Doocy wasn't especially forceful. But when Comer was interviewed by Newsmax's Eric Bolling the following day, he announced that he has decided to avoid "Fox and Friends."

"He's had that position from the very beginning,” the far-right House Oversight chairman said of Doocy.

Comer told Bolling, "I've quit going on 'Fox & Friends' because of Doocy, you know? I mean, he's the one guy on Fox that's been very critical of the investigation. I have my theory why, and we'll talk about that at a later point. But at the end of the day, he's entitled to his opinion. But I don't think the average viewer of Fox News agrees with Doocy one bit."

The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, in an article published on December 13, emphasized that Comer was triggered by a "tiny hole in the conservative safety net."

"If Comer is too afraid to face down Fox News for even the mildest bout of criticism," Houghtaling writes, "what does that mean for the actual impeachment proceedings, which Republicans seemingly want to keep in the dark? Last week, the caucus threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress if he refused to appear for a closed-door deposition, despite the president's son's previously voiced preference for a public hearing, fearing that information from those interviews would be selectively leaked and used to 'manipulate, even distort, the facts and misinform the American public.'"

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an 12 23

the day after the House GOP voted unanimously to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with some congressional Republicans admitting there is no evidence of impeachable offenses, the lead investigator declared their most damning evidence is a long-ago widely-debunked conspiracy theory.

Republican Oversight Chairman Jim Comer, head of one of the three most-powerful House committees and the top promoter of the push to impeach President Biden, Thursday morning was asked by Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo to name his “most damning” evidence.

“We’ve talked about the potential of money laundering and bribery,” said Bartiromo, who has been called an “election fraud promoter,” and a “once-respected journalist” who became a “full-blown Donald Trump sympathizer.”

“What can you tell us about the evidence?” she asked.

Comer claimed “over $24 million” has been run through a “series” of shell companies. “And then they laundered the money down to the Biden family members, 10 Biden family members.”

He defends his money-laundering claim because banks, he says, filed suspicious activity reports (SARs). According to the Thomson Reuters Institute, in 2022 alone there were 3.6 million SARs filed, and that number “this year is likely to set additional records.”

He adds, “six different banks accused the Bidens of money laundering – that’s a serious crime.” Money laundering is a serious crime but filing an SAR does not mean a bank is accusing someone of money laundering, nor does it mean money laundering is taking place.

The Chairman claims “we know they got tens of billions of dollars from bad people in bad countries. He admits, “We don’t know what exactly they did, but alleges, “We fear Joe Biden’s compromised.”

Comer then continues to make broad, unspecific allegations, using non-definitive words and terms, like, “we fear,” and, “we figure.”

“We figure this is one reason that he’s soft on China,” a claim he’s made before, in part based on the President removing Trump’s ban on TikTok, a ban that has been challenged in court.

He also claims, “we have specific policy decisions that Joe Biden made while he was vice president and president that we fear were made because he was compromised,” without providing any evidence to support the claim.

Comer again defaults to the long-debunked Burisma conspiracy theory.

“We fear this is one reason that he obviously fired the prosecutor who was investigating Hunter’s corrupt energy company in Ukraine when he was vice president.”

Not one word of that is true, although the owner of Burisma, the energy company, was under investigation and is reportedly now wanted by Ukrainian authorities.

Then-Vice President Biden did not nor could he “fire” Viktor Shokin, the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General, who was removed from his post for not investigating corruption, by the Ukrainian Parliament, after both domestic and international calls for him to be replaced for not doing his job. Those calls came from the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United States, where it was Obama administration policy that Shokin had to go.

Comer’s claim is further debunked by numerous reports going back to 2019.

“Burisma Holdings was not under scrutiny at the time Joe Biden called for Shokin’s ouster, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, an independent agency set up in 2014 that has worked closely with the FBI,” USA Today reported that year. “Shokin’s office had investigated Burisma, but the probe focused on a period before Hunter Biden joined the company, according to the anti-corruption bureau.”

Also in 2019, Bloomberg published a report with this headline: “Ukraine Prosecutor Says No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Bidens.”

“I do not want Ukraine to again be the subject of U.S. presidential elections,” Shokin’s successor Yuriy Lutsenko, told Bloomberg. “Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws — at least as of now, we do not see any wrongdoing. A company can pay however much it wants to its board.”

Watch Comer’s remarks below or at this link. aaron r twt]

---

an 12 23

house Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) has been among the House Republican majority's most aggressive proponents of an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, who, he claims, was part of corrupt business activities involving his son Hunter Biden — an unproven allegation that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) and other Democrats have forcefully pushed back against.

In an article published on December 14, meanwhile, the Associated Press' Brian Slodysko stresses that Comer's own business activities have been scrutinized.

"Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings on congressional financial disclosure documents — roughly 1600 acres in all," Slodysko explains. "But there are six acres that he bought in 2015 and co-owns with a longtime campaign contributor that he has treated differently, transferring his ownership to Farm Team Properties, a shell company he co-owns with his wife."

The AP reporter continues, "Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer's central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden."

Slodysko points out that Comer has "attacked" Hunter Biden and others in his family over "shell companies" that "appear designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings they received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests."

"The companies used by the Bidens are already playing a central role in the impeachment investigation, which is expected to gain velocity after House Republicans voted Wednesday to formally authorize the probe," Slodysko notes. "The vote follows the federal indictment last week of Biden's son Hunter on charges he engaged in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on his earnings through the companies."

The reporter continues, "But as Comer works to 'deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand' through the GOP's investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too — including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe."

---

'Indicted him to protect him — got it!' CNN’s Tapper mocks Comer to his face over Hunter Biden inquiry - Alternet.org

---

Fox News helps James Comer keep on trucking with Biden impeachment farce | Media Matters for America

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Comer threatens 'contempt' despite Hunter Biden’s lawyer quoting chairman’s media appearances - Alternet.org

---

[Jim Comer decimated by NBC reporter in 'under two minutes' - Alternet.org[Jim Comer decimated by NBC reporter in 'under two minutes' - Alternet.org

https://www.alternet.org/send/jim-comer/)Jim Comer decimated by NBC reporter in 'under two minutes' - Alternet.org](https://www.alternet.org/send/jim-comer/)

an ah 11 23

with 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner facing four criminal indictments and a variety of civil lawsuits, right-wing media outlets and MAGA conspiracy theorists have been claiming that President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden is the real legal story. But legal experts have responded that there is no evidence showing the type of criminal conspiracy within the Biden family that Trump's supporters are alleging.

House Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden to testify during a closed-door deposition on December 13 — and he was quick to respond that yes, he'll be there.

In an op-ed published on November 29, MSNBC's Hayes Brown argues that if Biden's testimony makes anyone look bad, it will most likely be House Republicans.

"Rather than fight the subpoena," Brown observes, "Hunter Biden appears eager, maybe too eager, to appear before the GOP-led panel. In a letter from his lawyer on Tuesday, Biden not only agreed to testify, but to do so in an open committee session. And in his response, Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., made clear how caught off guard he was — and how unprepared he is to back up his tough talk in public."

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, told Comer, "Your fishing expedition has become Captain Ahab chasing the great white whale."

"Demanding a public hearing is a dramatic and potential fraught play from Lowell, who has been spearheading an aggressive counteroffensive strategy for his client," Brown notes. "Could such a hearing be embarrassing for Hunter Biden? Yes, definitely. It's a chance for Republicans to bring up the very public scandals he's been linked to and the personal demons that have haunted (him)…. And yet, despite those risks, Lowell in his letter is clearly ready to call Comer's bluff."

Brown continues, "And as he noted, history is on his side in this case. The scramble for Republicans to find something impeachment-worthy to use against Biden has been an absolute circus…. But based on what we've seen so far, it seems more likely that any trap that gets sprung would be ACME-branded and backfire completely on the hapless coyote — er, I mean Comer — who set it."

*Read Hayes Brown's full MSNBC column at this link.

---

an 1123

on Tuesday, lawyers representing Hunter Biden said their client was willing to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to answer lawmakers' questions in response to their subpoena — but only if his testimony was conducted in full view of the public.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) had previously used closed-door committee meetings "to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public" and instead proposed "opening the door." Comer rejected the offer and said President Joe Biden's son must first appear before the committee in a closed-door session, but proposed a public hearing at an undetermined later date.

In a public statement, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who is the ranking member of the oversight committee, said that Comer's "wailing and moaning" about a "vast unproven family conspiracy" proved that the chairman's inquiry was little more than partisan bluster.

"What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it," Raskin stated. "After the miserable failure of their impeachment hearing in September, Chairman Comer has now apparently decided to avoid all Committee hearings where the public can actually see for itself the logical, rhetorical and factual contortions they have tied themselves up in. The evidence has shown time and again President Biden has committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense."

"Chairman Comer’s insistence that Hunter Biden’s interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again. What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth," he added.

While Comer has repeatedly assailed Biden over alleged corrupt behavior, he has bristled at accusations of impropriety within his own family. Earlier this month, Comer erupted at Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) when the Democrat brought up unanswered questions regarding a $200,000 loan the Kentucky Republican made to his brother involving a land transaction made with an LLC.

"Why should they believe you? There’s there’s a different rule for the president and there’s a different rule for you? Why should they believe what you’re saying? Mr. Chairman, why?" Moskowitz said. "You go on Fox News and say, ‘loans and deals are a way to evade taxes,' we don’t know that’s what you’re doing or not? We don’t know. We have no idea."

---

November 9, 2023

Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: James Comer, Like Joe Biden, Also Paid His Brother $200K.

James Comer is going after Joe Biden because he loaned his brother, James Biden, $200,000. If that’s the standard, James Comer may want to investigate himself.

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin won’t seek re-election in 2024.

Joe Manchin, who has kept the political world guessing about his plans, announced that he won’t seek re-election. The implications will be significant.

Justin Horowitz, Madeline Peltz, John Knefel & Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Holocaust denier and other extremists celebrate Charlie Kirk’s antisemitic “Jewish dollars” attack.

White nationalists and other extremist figures are embracing Turning Point USA founder and right-wing radio host Charlie Kirk’s comment blaming the spread of “cultural Marxist ideas” on “Jewish dollars.”

Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Fox’s Mike Huckabee Claims Women Who’ve Had Abortions ‘Probably Got Talked Into’ Them.

Fox News contributor and Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee suggested that women who get abortions lack the agency to decide for themselves to undergo the procedure.

Adam Chodorow @ Slate: Mike Johnson Wants to Unleash Ministers on Politics.

It seems almost certain that Johnson will attempt to repeal or weaken the Johnson Amendment (no relation!), which bans tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from participating in political campaigns.

Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: AOC Challenger Helped Lead Encrypted Chat Group Filled With Proud Boys And Racial Slurs

The group chat provides a vivid example of how the MAGA movement is encouraging people who are comfortable with the violent fringe, and who see it as part of their base, to run for office.

an10 23

Comer and Jordan target DC investigation of right-wing activist behind Trump SCOTUS justices - Alternet.org

no lnx

two of the House of Representatives’ most powerful committee chairs, Republicans Jim Comer and Jim Jordan, are targeting the District of Columbia’s Attorney General’s reported investigation into Leonard Leo, a right-wing judicial activist who heads a myriad of dark money groups and has worked to help pick or confirm every Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice who currently sits on the nation’s highest court.

Leonard Leo has strong ties to the ultra-conservative Federalist Society, which then-President Donald Trump used as a recommendation engine for his Supreme Court nominees. Leo served in different roles at the Federalist Society for more than a quarter century.

Calling him a “conservative activist,” The Washington Post in 2019 reported, “Leonard Leo helped conservative nonprofits raise $250 million from mostly undisclosed donors in recent years to promote conservative judges and causes.”

READ MORE: ‘There Are American Hostages’: House GOP Slammed for ‘Exploiting a War to Pass a Tax Cut’

That was before a single donor handed Leonard Leo $1.6 billion to remake the federal judiciary.

“In the largest known political advocacy donation in U.S. history, industrialist Barre Seid funded a new group run by Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, who guided Trump’s Supreme Court picks and helped end federal abortion rights,” ProPublica reported last year. The investigative nonprofit called Leo “one of the prime architects of conservatives’ efforts to reshape the American judicial system, including the Supreme Court.”

In August, Politico reported that “Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups, according to a person with direct knowledge of the probe.” Schwalb’s office has not confirmed the existence of the investigation.

“The scope of the investigation is unclear. But it comes after POLITICO reported in March that one of Leo’s nonprofits — registered as a charity — paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company. A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment.”

READ MORE: Why Did Mike Johnson Scrub 69 Podcasts From His Website?

Now, as The Messenger first reported Monday, House Oversight Committee Chair Jim Comer and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan “are probing the D.C. attorney general’s investigation of the conservative legal mastermind behind the Supreme Court’s hard right turn.”

The two chairs in a Monday press release call the investigation into Leonard Leo “politically motivated.”

In their letter the pair of Republicans claim they are “concerned about potential infringement on free association and donor privacy.”

They allege Attorney General Schwalb does not have jurisdiction to investigate “because Mr. Leo and the organizations with which he is affiliated are, according to publicly available information, based outside of Washington, D.C.”

Last year, The New York Times reported the “network of increasingly influential conservative groups that Leonard A. Leo has helped to create and shape is not easily defined or quantified.”

“It is funded mostly by so-called dark money that is difficult to trace. The roster of nonprofit groups has evolved, with some ceasing operations and others being added. Mr. Leo has formal leadership roles in some groups, while he is an informal adviser to others. Most of the nonprofit groups have paid him or his for-profit firms, CRC Advisors and BH Group.”

Earlier this month ProPublica reported Leo “drew up the lists of potential justices that Donald Trump released during the 2016 campaign. He advised Trump on the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Before that, he’d helped pick or confirm the court’s three other conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.”

READ MORE: Mike Johnson Once Agreed to Speak at ‘Kill the Gays’ Pastor’s Conference – Until an NCRM Report

===

an 8 23

'Where’s the bribe?' Comer slammed after months of unproven attacks on Biden

David Badashand The New Civil Rights Movement August 09, 2023

House Republican Oversight Chairman Jim Comer is increasingly coming under fire after months of his committee’s investigations, including public and private hearings, have unearthed no reported factual substantiation of his allegations and attacks against President Joe Biden.

CNN in January reported that Chairman Comer “has cast the president and his family in hyperbolic language – at times going beyond the evidence that’s publicly available. The Kentucky Republican has painted Biden as ‘A President Compromised,’ and excoriated what he calls ‘the entire Biden crime family.’ He’s pointed to a handful of contested or vague emails to suggest Joe Biden’s involvement with his family’s deals.”

Little has changed, except charges from Democrats and even some Republicans that Chairman Comer’s claims about President Biden have never been proven.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump asked point-blank, “So where’s the bribe, James Comer?”

“It has now been more than three months since House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) issued a release in which they accused President Biden of having been ‘allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national,'” he wrote.

READ MORE: Trump Spins Wild Attack Against Fulton County DA Fani Willis Ahead of Possible Indictment

“On Wednesday, Comer released a new assessment of payments made to Hunter Biden, [Devon] Archer and others while Biden and Archer were in business together,” Bump writes, concluding: “none of the $20 million that Comer claims went to ‘the Biden family and their business associates’ — an intentionally loose description of the recipients — was shown to have gone to Joe Biden.”

“There’s no alleged bribe to Hunter Biden, either,” Bump added.

Even Fox News host Steve Doocy “has repeatedly expressed skepticism over Comer’s allegations that Biden accepted bribes from foreign nationals while he was vice president,” The Daily Beast reported in late June. “Back in May, for instance, Doocy confronted Comer for not including any hard proof in his report that was supposed to make ‘Watergate look like jaywalking’ and would be ‘judgment day’ for the president.

“I know the Republicans said that the smoking gun were these financial records that you were able to subpoena and got your hands on,” Doocy told Comer, according to The Daily Beast. “But that’s just your suggestion—you actually don’t have any facts to that point. You’ve got some circumstantial evidence. And the other thing is, of all those names, the one person who didn’t profit is—there is no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally.”

CNN on Wednesday reported “it appears” that Comer’s “committee has not found any direct evidence that President Biden personally benefited from any of his son’s business dealings. Republicans are now insisting they don’t have to.”

READ MORE: ‘You Just Might Have to Give Those Millions Back’: Legal Experts Warn on Jack Smith’s Trump PAC Fundraising Probe

“House Oversight Republicans laid out their intention to accuse President Joe Biden of corruption even without direct evidence that he financially benefited from Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, a clear shift in their strategy that they said was launched to investigate the president,” CNN added.

The White House is pushing back in a lengthy memo that was published by Mediaite on Wednesday.

“Today House Republicans on the Oversight Committee released another memo full of years-old ‘news,’ innuendo, and misdirection – but notably missing, yet again, is any connection to President Biden,” it begins. “Perhaps that is because – as recently as last week – the House Republicans’ own self-proclaimed ‘hero‘ witness who was ‘going to be able to come under oath and tell us exactly what role Joe Biden played‘ testified that President Biden never discussed these business dealings and was not involved.”

After citing four news reports, the White House memo adds, “This has been a pattern: time after time, Comer hypes up self-proclaimed bombshell findings about President Biden, and time after time, he fails to provide any actual evidence. Today’s release is yet another flop…So after seven months of wasting time and millions of taxpayer dollars on their evidence-free wild goose chase, Comer is making it clear that he is shamelessly moving the goal posts.”

Read the full White House memo at Mediaite.

===

comer witness fail --> deep state

https://www.alternet.org/send/nancy-mace-2662263070/

===

https://www.alternet.org/the-right-wing/gal-luft/

no lnx

Comer’s missing FBI 'whistleblower' and 'very credible witness on Biden family corruption' was just indicted

David Badash andThe New Civil Rights Movement July 11, 2023

House GOP Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer‘s alleged FBI “whistleblower,” who he claimed just days ago was a “very credible witness on Biden family corruption,” despite having been missing for months, was just indicted on charges including “arms trafficking,” “Iranian sanctions violations,” and “conspir[ing] with others in an effort to act within the United States to advance the interests of the People’s Republic of China (China),” according to the U.S. Dept of Justice.

He is currently on the run, DOJ says.

“According to court documents, Gal Luft, 57, is charged in an eight-count indictment with offenses related to willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), arms trafficking, Iranian sanctions violations and making false statements to federal agents,” a DOJ press release states. “Luft was arrested on Feb. 17 in the Republic of Cyprus based on the charges in the indictment. Luft subsequently fled after being released on bail while extradition proceedings were pending and remains a fugitive.”

Some, including NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins are characterizing Luft with being charged as a “Chinese spy.”

“The ‘missing’ Hunter Biden witness the GOP was promising for a while there was just charged by the DOJ with being a Chinese spy,” Collins tweeted.

On Friday, Chairman Comer (photo) tweeted out a clip of his appearance on Newsmax, and wrote: “Gal Luft, a very credible witness on Biden family corruption, provided incriminating evidence to six officials from the FBI and the DOJ in a meeting in Brussels in March 2019. We have no reason to believe the FBI & DOJ acted on this info. Americans deserve answers.”

Comer told Newsmax Gal Luft is “very credible, and the people on MSNBC who made fun of me when I said that we had an informant that was missing, they should feel like fools right now.”

“This is their worst nightmare, again, because this is a credible witness,” he continued.

Chairman Comer’s allegations attacking President Joe Biden and his family repeatedly have been baseless.

“Comer has so far failed to show how Biden may have benefited from the payments or how any alleged business dealings by relatives may have impacted Biden’s policy decisions,” TIME reported back in May. “He has repeatedly blamed stonewalling by the Biden Administration for why his investigation hasn’t gotten more traction.”

“We are hopeful that we can find the informant,” Comer told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “Now remember, these informants are kind of in the spy business, so they don’t make a habit of being seen a lot or being high profile or anything like that.”

Also Friday, Rupert Murdoch’s NY Post Editorial Board ran a piece titled, “Media silence on key would-be witness Gal Luft’s Biden revelations speaks volumes.”

“The drip-drip-drip of evidence detailing the Biden family criminal enterprise has turned into a torrent,” it claimed.

Watch below or at this link.

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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===

Mr shapley is talking about tax evasion

especially regarding Hunter Biden you

you just mentioned uh nine members of

the Biden family you've got bank records

it looks like they've taken in in excess

of 20 million dollars from foreign

sourcesuh I heard you yesterday

referred to them as a crime family and

this was organized crime so make it easy

for us what was the crime

well the crime is that Trading policy

for for money which policy well we're

going to get into that I mean look Joe

Biden has on day one he changed our

energy policy in America that put China

first in America last he went in on day

one and and ended the China initiative

which was an investigation at all our

public universities of a very organized

Chinese spy ring where China was sending

students to universities to steal our

research and development so you're

saying because members of the The 100

Biden family and the extended Joe Biden

family got money through various foreign

entities including things like things

from China that the president is

compromised absolutely absolutely how

does he compromise

he's compromised

because he's taken so much money from

China when you go in and you and the

China initiative which every University

president even the most liberal

University president said is a problem

these Chinese students are coming over

here they're they're you go in a

research lab in any University whether

it's in Kentucky or in an Ivy League

school and they're Chinese students in

there they ended that because they said

that was racial profiling that was

discrimination but the university

presidents even the most liberal ones

wanted that they ended that that's an

example of a policy what else have you

found because the panel is...

an 6 23

Comer (R-KY) struggled on Thursday to name a policy that President Biden changed after receiving money from foreign sources.

"I heard you yesterday refer to them as a crime family, and this was organized crime," Fox News host Steve Doocytold Comer. "So make it easy for us. What was the crime?"

"Well, the crime is trading policy for money," Comer stated.

"Which policy?" Doocy pressed.

"Well, we're going to get into that," Comer replied before offering policies that he could not connect to foreign money sources.

"I mean, look, Joe Biden has on day one, he changed our energy policy in America that put China first and America last," the Republican lawmaker said.

"So you're saying because members of the Hunter Biden family and the extended Joe Biden family got money through various foreign entities, including things like things from China, that the president is compromised," Doocy pointed out.

"Absolutely," Comer insisted.

[vid]

"How's he compromised?" Doocy wondered.

"He's compromised because he's taken so much money from China," Comer insisted.

Watch the video from Fox News at this link....

===

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/top-gop-house-committee-chairman-msnbc-viewers-are-low-iq/

===

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-jesse-watters-claims-fbi-installed-joe-biden-president-intelligence-op-after

omg mm a 6 23

JESSE WATTERS (HOST): Powerful people installed Biden so that he can take orders, not give them. Joe Biden's been groomed his whole career to take orders. And now that he's literally slept his way to the top, they won't let him go anywhere. The FBI put their guy in the White House. "You think we're just going to, like, let voters decide if he should serve four more years? We can't afford to take that risk."

Joe Biden has been an intelligence op since he was vice president. One of the FBI's top informants, a guy with impeccable credentials, a great track record, reported an allegation that Joe Biden took a $5 million bribe -- right under Barack Obama's nose -- from a foreign national in exchange for a policy decision. They've been blackmailing Joe Biden with this for a decade. Well, until a whistleblower came forward. And now,James Comer wants the document released to Congress and the FBI's caught in a cover-up.

===

an 5 23

no lnx

Oversight chair appears to admit his Hunter Biden probe is designed to help Trump win the White House

David Badash andThe New Civil Rights Movement May 22, 2023

Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer in a 4 AM interview Monday morning appears to have admitted to actually weaponizing the federal government for political gain.

Chairman Comer, Republican of Kentucky, appeared to tell Fox News early Monday morning that his investigations into Hunter Biden are actually designed to help Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election.

“We have talked to you about this on the show, about how the media can just not ignore this any longer.In an op-ed in The Washington Post, it says, ‘Millions Flowed to Biden Family Members. Don’t Pretend It Doesn’t Matter,’” said Fox News host Ashley Strohmier, as HuffPost reported Monday. “So do you think that because of your investigation, that is what’s moved this needle with the media?”

READ MORE: Moms for Liberty Leader Says Biden Behind High-Level, Coordinated Effort to Make Kids LGBTQ (Video)

“Absolutely. There’s no question,” Comer replied, sounding very similar to Kevin McCarthy in 2015 (below) when he admitted the Benghazi investigations were designed to hurt Hillary Clinton in the polls. “You look at the polling, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending upward, Joe Biden’s trending downward. And I believe that the media is looking around, scratching their head, and they’re realizing that the American people are keeping up with our investigation.”

Comer citied one recent poll, but may polls show President Joe Biden beating Donald Trump, and overall, while it is still very early, the polls are very close.

“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” McCarthy had said. “But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee, a Select Committee ― what are her numbers today?” McCarthy had told Fox News at the time. “Her numbers are dropping, why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened.”

HuffPost notes that “in reality, despite House Republicans’ efforts to portray Biden as hopelessly corrupt, the committee didn’t present any evidence in its hearings that directly implicated Biden.”

Watch Comer below or at this link.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

'Somebody send out an Amber Alert': House Republican mocked over 'missing' Hunter Biden 'whistleblower' ›

ABC host grills GOP House Oversight chair: Will you be investigating Jared Kushner too? ›

===

whistleblower 0 [others paid by kash]

https://www.alternet.org/somebody-send-out-amber-alert/

https://www.alternet.org/just-believe-our-lies/

no lnx twit

Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) declared to Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday that all of the purported evidence against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter that Republicans have supposedly amassed over the last three years is something to "infer" and that "you're not necessarily going to get hard proof" of criminal activity.

"So [House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman] James Comer [R-Kentucky] walked us through this web of LLCs that the Biden family created and money came from China and other adversarial countries, by the way, not just China. But going into these LLCs and then from there the money went from the LLCs to, to various Biden family members. What can you tell us about that? What were they getting paid for?" Bartiromo asked Johnson.

"Well, again, on, on the bank records, you're not gonna see bribe to change this policy. You have, you have to infer what's happening here. You, you have to take a look at the, the bulk of the evidence. You have to file the money and realize what, so what did this Biden family member do to earn that amount of money? I mean, that's what we did with, with Hunter Biden in Ukraine," Johnson said.

READ MORE: 'Show the goods': Fox News host calls out House Republican over lack of Hunter Biden evidence

"I mean, what did he know about oil and gas to be on the board of Burisma and knocked down about $4 million over the course of a number of years when his father was the point person in Ukraine, that, that corrupt system," Johnson continued. "So again, you, you have to infer these things. You're not going to get necessarily hard proof, but there's such a huge body of evidence. We had it in September 2020. It was all ignored. It was all denigrated. It was all called Russian disinformation. It's the same playbook of the Democrats, the same playbook of the media that wants to prop up and cover up for the Bidens."

Johnson's remarks did not play well on social media.

MeidasTouch: "I'm going to 'infer' that Ron Johnson and his corrupt Republican friends are liars engaging in defamation the day after their dear leader was held liable for defamation in court."

Ford News: "Senator Ron Johnson on Fox News just admitted we will never get hard proof regarding the GOP probe into bank transfers from a foreign country to Hunter Biden's LLC."

READ MORE: House GOP Oversight warns DOJ: 'Do not indict Hunter Biden before Wednesday'

Kelly D: "Ron Johnson said live on Fox there is no evidence and we just need to infer that the entire Biden family is guilty. Of what, I’m not sure. But also, we don't infer sh*t in this country. Bring the evidence to the DOJ or S T F U."

Jamison Foser: "I mean I can pretty easily infer all kinds of crimes Ron Johnson has committed if this is how we're going to do things."

Art Martin: "Judge Ron Johnson: I find Joe Biden guilty beyond an unreasonable inference!"

Devin Duke: "When Trump refuses to criticize Putin on any topic ever, should we infer what's happening there?"

McSpocky™: Of course there isn't going to be 'hard proof.' Biden did nothing wrong!

Kaloyan: "Infer? You mean insinuate, right, right?"

Jo: "So, these clowns are gonna impeach President Biden because they've 'inferred' crimes? Based on something other than… EVIDENCE?!? F*cking clown show."

Outspoken: "'Just believe our lies.'"

Watch Johnson below or at this link.

READ MORE: Federal prosecutor close to a decision in Hunter Biden probe: report

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an 5 23

Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, once again fell flat during an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo over supposed evidence of criminal activities that the GOP claims to have accumulated against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Following a series of unendearing interviews this week, Comer on Thursday insisted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are stymieing their probe into the clandestine connections that Republicans believe the Bidens have with international interests.

Politico noted on May 3rd that while Comer and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) "asserted that the FBI has material outlining 'an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions,'" Comer and Grassley have "provided no further detail on the nature of those allegations."

Politico also explained that although "Comer and Grassley say they became aware of the potential existence of material underpinning the anti-Biden allegations from a'highly credible whistleblower' who contacted lawmakers to assert knowledge of a conversation the FBI had with a confidential source... the two Republicans provided no information on the purported whistleblower’s background, or how that person would have knowledge of an alleged conversation with an FBI source."

Over the past week, Comer and his confederates have stumbled when questioned about what proof they have against the Bidens, prompting skepticism among normally friendly conservative media anchors.

Such was the case on Thursday when Comer spoke with Bartiromo.

"And we're going to move forward with Plan B and I, and it's unfortunate that we have to do this. It's unfortunate that, uh, neither Senator Grassley nor I have one ounce of confidence in the leadership of the FBI right now, or the DOJ. Uh, but we're gonna move forward. They're not going to obstruct our investigation or corruption in this White House. And we're gonna continue to, to press and, and get answers and provide the American people with the facts," Comer said.

no lnx

Congressman, what's Plan B?" Bartiromo asked.

Comer had no substantive response.

"Well, stay tuned. Maria. You'll be the first person that'll know. I, I can assure you," he replied. "But it's, uh, you know, we assumed the FBI would continue this pattern of behavior of, uh, you know, acting independently. I mean, this is an example of thedeep state, uh, and the fourth branch of government."

Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: 'Show the goods': Fox News host calls out House Republican over lack of Hunter Biden evidence

Politico's report continues here.

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an 5 23 bing bypass opinion$

House GOP Oversight warns DOJ: 'Do not indict Hunter Biden before Wednesday'

David Edwards and Raw StoryMay 07, 2023

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, worried on Sunday that the Department of Justice might indict Hunter Biden on gun charges before a press conference could expose his alleged corruption.

During an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Comer said he gave the FBI until Wednesday to release documents about Biden.

"What if they decide to indict Hunter Biden for having a gun illegally before your press conference?" Bartiromo wondered.

"My message to the Department of Justice is very loud and clear," Comer replied. "Do not indict Hunter Biden before Wednesday when you have the opportunity to see the evidence that the House Oversight Committee will produce with respect to the web of LLCs, with respect to the number of adversarial countries that this family influence peddled in."

"This is not just about the president's son," he added. "This is about the entire Biden family, including the president of the United States."

Comer claimed to know "exactly what this family was doing."

"And by all accounts from the media reports that we're getting, what they're looking at charging Hunter Biden on is a slap on the wrist," the lawmaker complained. "It's a drop in the bucket. So Wednesday will be a very big day for the American people in getting the facts presented to them so that they can know the truth."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at this link.

James Comer fears DOJ will ruin his press conference on Hunter Biden

youtu.be

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Hunter Biden: What was he doing in China and Ukraine? - BBC News ›

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kushner too?

https://www.alternet.org/abc-host-gop-oversight-chair/

===

an 4 23

no lnx

'Show the goods': Fox News host calls out House Republican over lack of Hunter Biden evidence

Brandon Gage May 01, 2023

United States Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, got tripped up by Fox News anchor Sandra Smith on Monday over purported proof that Republicans have amassed of Hunter Biden's attorneys "intimidating" witnesses.

"Witness intimidation? The witnesses and the whistleblowers are being intimidated by the president's son's lawyers? You stand by that and you say you have evidence of that?" a skeptical Smith wondered.

"It depends on your definition of intimidation. If you get a call from the lawyers and they remind you of your potential liability and some of these business games, then uh, yes, I would consider that witness intimidation," Comer replied.

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Jamie Raskin (D-MD) shared an internal memo with Democrats revealing that House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) has issued subpoenas for documents and bank records related to the Biden family and business deals allegedly conducted by Hunter Biden, Politico reported.

The memo showed that Bank of America, Cathay Bank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC USA N.A., and Mervyn Yan, a former business associate of Hunter Biden’s, were all targeted in the subpoena.

"To date, Chairman Comer has issued six subpoenas and sent 39 letters in the Biden family investigation alone. Notably, Mr. Comer has failed to issue a single document subpoena in any other Committee investigation this Congress," Raskin said. "This significant use of resources duplicates efforts by Senate Republicans in the 116th Congress, which, after three years, have failed to reveal any wrongdoing by President Biden."

Comer fired back at Raskin's statement, saying his disclosing of the subpoenas showed a "cheap attempt to thwart cooperation from other witnesses."

"Given his antics with the first bank subpoena, the American people and media should be asking what information Ranking Member Raskin is trying to hide this time," he added.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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Jim Jordan (R-OH) is questioning whether Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has taken time away from probing former President Donald Trump to investigate Hunter Biden's art sales.

Jordan tweeted Friday, "Is Alvin Bragg looking into Hunter Biden's art sales and business records in New York City?"

USA Today reports:

Republicans are investigating Hunter Biden's art sales as part of wide-ranging inquiries into his business dealings and bank records. Rep. James Comer, the Oversight chairman, questioned whether Hunter Biden was peddling influence to foreign adversaries by using high-value art to evade U.S. sanctions, with prices on his work initially listed at up to $500,000 and now ranging from $55,000 to $225,000 apiece.

:{New York gallery owner, Georges Berges, according to USA Today has ":(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:defended Hunter Biden and predicted he would be 'one of the most consequential artists in this century.'"

Regarding the congressman's spearheading of the Biden probe, Slate reports:

Jordan and other Republicans are not obsessed with Hunter Biden because they believe humbly in the ideals of ethical government. Instead, they are taking cues from Donald Trump, who for several years has fixated on a number of fantastical and never-proven accusations that Hunter and Joe Biden are engaged in 'deep state' corruption together....

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https://www.alternet.org/trump/gop-trump/ obstruct justice

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a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hit back at Republican members of the House of Representatives on Monday after three committee chairmen sent a letter demanding Bragg’s testimony about a potential criminal indictment of former president Donald Trump — and made false claims about New York City crime in the process.

Bragg is investigating an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, and reports indicate an indictment is imminent. According to the New York Times, “Last week, senior officials from the district attorney’s office and the state agency that runs the courts had preliminary discussions to plan for a possible indictment and arraignment.”

Trump on Saturday took to his social media site Truth Social and appeared to confirm reports he “will be arrested on Tuesday of next week.”

In a letter released Monday,Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), House Administration Committee Chairmen Bryan Steil (R-WI) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) requested Bragg testify "about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision.”

“We expect you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision,” the Republican leaders wrote.

The GOP chairmen then turned to bash the DA’s county, accusing Bragg of “adopting progressive criminal justice policies that allow career ‘criminals to run the streets’ of Manhattan.”

Responding to the letter, a spokesperson for Bragg “set the record straight about a few particularly egregious statements about the safety of our great city,” noting “homicides are down 32 percent in Manhattan” under Bragg “and shootings are down 14 percent.”

“We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us form fairly applying the law,” the spokesperson said.

“New York remains on the safest big cities in the U.S. with a far lower murder rate than the most populous cities where the Committee Chairmen hail from,}:” the spokesperson added.

The statement concluded:

In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth. Our skilled, honest and dedicated lawyers remain hard at work.

You can read the Republican leaders' letter here and Bragg’s spokesman’s full response here.

From Your Site Articles

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White House to Jim Jordan, James Comer: Sorry, but you have to ... ›

mma 3 23 matt g

Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) plan to blame President Joe Biden’s economic policies for the Friday collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has hit a snag.

McCarthy wants the Republican message to be that Biden’s spending triggered a rise in inflation, and the Federal Reserve’s subsequent interest rate increases wiped out the bank. But his members have instead been claiming that the bank failed because it was too “woke,” a charge so ludicrous that a caucus leader reportedly urged them to “stop tweeting / going on tv if they don’t understand” the situation.

But McCarthy’s dilemma won’t be as easy to solve as that: It stems from the fact that GOP members of Congress are downstream from the same right-wing misinformation and infotainment apparatus as the party’s base. And that system has spent the Biden administration forcing every policy issue, no matter how complex, through its culture war lens.

SVB failed for banal finance reasons, as Bloomberg’s Matt Levine has detailed. It had a customer base of venture capitalists and the start-ups they fund. Those customers generally don’t require short-term, variable-rate business loans, so SVB instead invested their deposits in long-term, fixed-rate bonds without sufficiently hedging its risk. As interest rates rose, those bonds lost value. Some SVB depositors feared the bank’s finances had become too weak and withdrew their funds; since venture capitalists are panicky and move in a herd, the result was an old-fashioned bank run, and on Friday, regulators took over SVB, saying it lacked liquidity and had become insolvent.

But as the bank collapsed, the right-wing media concocted a very different story that fit neatly into their culture war narratives. In their telling, SVB failed because it was too “woke” and had excessively focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Digital media outlets, online influencers, right-wing podcasters, powerful Fox hosts, and columnists at the staid Wall Street Journal all converged on the same talking points.[twt]

republican politicians echoed this theme as it spread through the right-wing press, parroting the message that they perceived was popular among their political base. And not just random backbenchers — over the weekend, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who leads the party’s investigations as chair of the House Oversight committee, went on Fox News to decry SVB as “one of the most woke banks,” while likely presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued on the same show that its leaders had been “so concerned with DEI and politics” that it “really diverted from them focusing on their core mission.”

McCarthy had lost control of the GOP message to propagandists who produce political takes that are optimized for ratings and clicks, and now he is desperately trying to get it back.

This isn’t the first time the right has blamed bank failures on excessive support for people of color. In 2008, it became commonplace to blame the financial crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act. As Fox’s Laura Ingraham put it at the time, that law, which was enacted in 1977, “pushed all these institutions to lend to minority communities, many were very risky loans.”

That argument was wrong — only a small percentage of subprime mortgages were issued by depository institutions under the CRA — and it scapegoated borrowers rather than the predatory lenders who in many cases deceived them or the bankers who profited handsomely by selling those subprime mortgages packaged in complicated financial products, even though it dramatically increased their institutions’ risk.

But the CRA charge was at least vaguely related to actual federal economic policies. That reflected the sizable portion of right-wing media attention paid during the Obama administration to developing talking points in favor of deregulation and other conservative economic priorities like cutting taxes, particularly for wealthy Americans and corporations, and slashing the social safety net.

The right’s priorities have shifted since then to increasingly favor the empty calories of the culture war. President Donald Trump signed legislation deregulating banks like SVB, just as he signed into law a huge regressive tax cut and pushed to kick people off health insurance by dismantling Obamacare. But he was largely uninterested in broad areas of federal policy, instead reflexively viewing issues through his own personal grievances. The right-wing press, and the GOP, adjusted to match his focuses.

By the time Biden took office, the right’s policy debate muscles had atrophied. Biden offered a far-reaching economic agenda, but in early 2021, Fox’s coverage instead revolved around the “woke mob” supposedly targeting Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss. Even when the network’s influential commentators discussed Biden proposals like his $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill, they fixated on the 0.06% of the total supposedly wasted on “social justice stuff.” The rest of the right-wing popular press followed Fox’s lead.

The shift by Republican propagandists has been bad for the party’s electoral prospects. As Fox’s hosts trained their audience to fixate on their own bizarre grievances, Republican politicians followed along. But it turns out that normal people don’t care about the same things as millionaire TV hosts like Tucker Carlson — in the 2022 midterms, Fox-friendly candidates who pushed the network’s obsessions were trounced, helping Democrats retain the U.S. Senate and several governorships while keeping the House closely divided.

To date, McCarthy has shown little interest in creating daylight between his members and the right’s infotainers — he’s fresh off of giving Carlson’s team exclusive access to January 6 security footage so the Fox host could generate revisionist propaganda. And now the House leader is reaping the fruits of his party’s right-wing media grievance addiction.

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am 3 23

an 3 23 no lnx

house Oversight Chair James Comer's zeal to open multiple investigations into President Joe Biden and members of his administration is starting to rankle his GOP colleagues who want the Kentucky Republican to slow down and stay out of their work.

According to a report from Punchbowl, there is a belief among Republicans that Comer is spreading himself too thin by chasing after multiple investigations that normally don't fall under his committee's purview.

As Punchbowl is reporting, "In a little more than two months as chair, Comer has launched a barrage of probes into everything from the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan to Ukraine aid to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio," and that has some other House committee chairman unhappy that he is stepping on their toes.

One of those avenues of investigations is into Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan which resulted in a letter from Comer demanding information and that letter caught House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) flatfooted.

“I was a little surprised by the letter,” he admitted before brushing it off with, “But we’ve talked since then. We’re working it out.”

According to the report, "Comer’s letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last month requesting information on the Ohio train derailment raised eyebrows in GOP circles as well. Some Republicans thought the probe is overreaching on an issue better served by either the Energy and Commerce or Transportation and Infrastructure panels."

One aide for a House member was critical of Comer thrusting himself into everything.

“There’s a big difference between oversight where you have expertise and oversight to churn out press releases,” they explained. “Everyone thought he’d learn from prior chairmen and work in a more coordinated way. It’s been quite the opposite.”

The report adds that House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) tried to tamp down complaints about Comer's intrusiveness, telling Punchbowl: "We’re gonna do stuff in our committee. He’s going to do stuff on his committee, and if there’s overlap, and he’s doing stuff that we’re doing too … the most important thing is that the American people get the facts, we propose legislation and we address things in the appropriations process.”

You can read more here.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

Dean Obeidallah: Comer should probe Trump and Kushner’s Saudi ties if they care about 'influence peddling' ›

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ABC host grills GOP House Oversight chair: Will you be investigating Jared Kushner too? ›

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all 26 Republicans on the powerful House Oversight Committee have refused to sign a simple, two-sentence statement denouncing white supremacy.

"We, Members of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, together denounce white nationalism and white supremacy in all its forms, including the 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory. These hateful and dangerous ideologies have no place in the work of the United States Congress or our Committee," the statement (copy below) from Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) reads.

It comes after several Oversight Committee Republicans "invoked dangerous and conspiratorial rhetoric echoing the racist and nativist tropes peddled by white supremacists and right-wing extremists," during a February hearing on the "border crisis," Ranking Member Raskin said in a March 5 letter to Committee Chair James Comer (photo, top.) The Washington Post first reported on Raskin’s letter.

"In particular, some Members repeatedly described the number of migrants arriving at the border as an 'invasion,' and even went so far as to falsely accuse the Biden-Harris Administration of implementing a plan 'to deliberately open our border' for purposes of 'changing our culture'—mirroring language often used by MAGA extremists who believe that pro-immigration policies are designed to replace white populations with non-white immigrants and other racial minorities," Raskin's letter says.

Congressman Raskin is a former constitutional law professor who gained national prominence as the impeachment manager during the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

"As I explained to you at the hearing," his letter to Comer continues, "such language borrows from the 'Great Replacement' theory, the central dogma of contemporary white supremacy that has been repeatedly invoked by white nationalists to justify violent acts of domestic terrorism, including the mass murders of dozens of Americans at a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a Walmart in El Paso, Texas."

All 21 Democrats on the Oversight Committee signed the statement, and all 26 Republicans refused. A Committee spokesperson called the statement a "distraction," according to The Independent.

the 26 Republican Representatives who refused to denounce white supremacy and white nationalism are (in order of appearance on the statement): James Comer, Jim Jordan, Mike Turner, Paul Gosar, Virginia Foxx, Glenn Grothman, Gary Palmer, Clay Higgins, Pete Sessions, Andy Biggs, Nancy Mace, Jake LaTurner, pat Fallon, Byron Donalds, Kelly Armstrong, Scott Perry, William Timmons, Tim Burchett, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lisa McClain, Lauren Boebert, Russell Fry, Anna Paulina Luna, Chuck Edwards, Nick Langworthy, and Eric Burlison.

See a copy of the signed/unsigned statement below or at this link.

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In late January, DirecTV dropped far-right Fox News competitor Newsmax from its satellite lineup when the two were unable to reach an agreement on license fees. MAGA Republicans were bitterly disappointed, as Newsmax prides itself on being more right-wing and more pro-Donald Trump than Fox News and Fox Business. However, DirecTV hasn't ruled out the possibility of bringing Newsmax back if they can come to an agreement on license fees.

Some of the MAGA Republicans who hated to see Newsmax removed from the DirecTV lineup are angrily accusing DirecTV of discriminating against the right. And one of them is Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who now chairs the House Oversight Committee.

During a Friday, February 24 appearance on Newsmax, Comer threatened to use House Oversight against DirecTV if it doesn't restore Newsmax to its lineup.

Comer told Newsmax host John Bachman, "I'm very concerned. I'm very upset that DirecTV does not have Newsmax on there. I've been in constant communication with the leadership at AT&T and DirecTV. I have strongly encouraged them to meet with your CEO, Mr. (Chris) Ruddy, to get this worked out — or else! If anyone has ever watched the House Oversight Committee — any of our first three hearings — they have to ask themselves: Do they really want to go in front of the House Oversight Committee?"

Fox News continues to have the highest ratings on right-wing cable TV. But in MAGA World, Newsmax appeals largely to people who believe that Fox News and Fox Business aren't far enough to the right.

On Bachman's show, Comer told the host, "We're all huge fans of Newsmax. We don't like to see Newsmax not being offered on DirecTV, especially considering Newsmax is the, I think, the fourth highest-rated news show on TV now."

Comer also said, "And they have dozens of other news shows that have much lower ratings than Newsmax. So, I'm doing everything in my ability to see that this gets worked out. If it doesn't, then I would expect the Republican majority to begin to take steps to take action in this."

DirecTV, however, has maintained that its decision to drop Newsmax was merely a business/budgetary matter — not an effort to silence Republicans.

In late January, a DirecTV spokesperson told Fierce Video, "On multiple occasions, we made it clear to Newsmax that we wanted to continue to offer the network, but ultimately, Newsmax's demands for rate increases would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base. Anyone, including our customers, can watch the network for free via NewsmaxTV.com, YouTube.com and on multiple streaming platforms like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Google Play. We continually evaluate the most relevant programming to provide our customers and expect to fill this available channel with new content."

Watch The Daily Beast's video here (subscription required).

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possible not knowing govt structure not a problem for base? asset even?

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**Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg** embarrassed House Oversight Committee Chairman **James Comer** Friday evening after he published a letter launching an investigation into the Transportation Secretary in the wake of the Norfolk Southerntoxic train derailment. The investigation notably is not into Norfolk Southern or the Dept. of Transportation itself, but into Secretary Buttigieg’s handling of the derailment.

"This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines," Chairman Comer writes. “Despite the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week," he claims. “DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leadership’s apathy in the face of this emergency.”

"The fallout from the Ohio train derailment continues to develop. DOT’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a preliminary report on February 23, 2023, which stopped short of declaring a concrete cause of the derailment,” Comer added, which is also false, as the Transportation Secretary pointed out in a tweet.

"I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our Department," Buttigieg said. “NTSB is independent (and with good reason). Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately.”

The investigation will also focus on the Biden administration’s massive – and bipartisan – infrastructure bill, which the President signed into law in late 2021. Infrastructure projects typically take years to be approved and completed. And yet Chairman Comer appeared to suggest the President’s infrastructure package should have prevented the train’s derailment – suggesting a lack of understanding of basic governmental processes.

"Under your leadership, DOT supported President Biden’s Infrastructure Bill, which included billions of dollars devoted to revamping America’s railways in an effort to make them safer and more efficient. Yet America now faces one of transportation’s largest failures, even while DOT seems to not lack available funding. In America, over 1,000 trains derail every year."

Comer’s letter is signed by 21 Republicans, but noticeably absent is the signature of the Oversight Committee’s Ranking Member, Democrat Jamie Raskin. It appears Raskin was not a part of the decision to send the letter.

raw tom b an 2 23

On the heels of a Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee grilling of Twitter executives over perceived bias against conservatives, the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch offered up a post-mortem that summarized the proceedings as not only a waste of time but also detrimental to the Republican Party.

Last Wednesday, the committee, headed by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), attempted to make a major case out of a decision by Twitter executives to tamp down a New York Post story on the laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.

In the words of Comer, "Twitter aggressively suppressed conservative elected officials, journalists and activists,” with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) later chiming in, "I think you guys got played. I think you guys wanted to take it down. I think you guys got played by the F.B.I.”

With the Post-Dispatch editors pointing out that Twitter execs now believe it was a mistake to suppress the tweets, they added that the entire hearing hinged on the flimsiest of conspiracy theories and, "To say it blew up in their faces like a gag cigar is putting it mildly."

"The Republican obsession with proving Twitter conspired with Democrats and the FBI against conservatives boomeranged during a House hearing last week, exposing the wispiness of one of the new majority’s favorite made-up scandals," they wrote. "Republicans have asserted, based on nothing, that the platform was pressured by the FBI to tamp down the story for Joe Biden’s sake. It’s part of a broader narrative on the right that says, again with scant evidence, that mainstream social-media sites are in cahoots with liberals and against conservatives."

According to the editors, what transpired was "oafish" and nothing less than "disappointing" when all was said and done.

They wrote, "How they [Republicans] must have wished they hadn’t even uncorked this bottle when a witness further testified that, in fact,the company scuttled its standing prohibition on abusive language toward immigrants so it wouldn’t have to ban then-President Trumpfor his infamous, racist tweet in 2019 saying several American-born congresswomen of color should 'go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.'"

They added that the GOP is headed down the road to doing more damage to itself which might root out the extremists in the party more interested in revenge than public policy.

"Maybe the GOP’s plan to spend the next two years in retaliatory investigations against Biden isn’t such a bad thing after all. Not if they all go like this," they concluded.

You can read the whole editorial here.

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ABC host George Stephanopoulos asked Republican House Oversight Chair James Comer (KY) if he would investigate Saudi funds provided to former President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The New York Times and The Washington Postreported that Kushner secured over $2 billion, mainly from Sauri Arabia, after Trump left office.

Stephanopoulos wondered if Comer would take time out of his investigation of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, to probe Kushner's foreign business dealings.

"It's clear that you're going to be looking at Hunter Biden," the host said. "I want to put up a front-page story from the Washington Post detailing Jared Kushner's ties to the Saudis."

"We know that former President Trump has also received funds related to the Saudis' golf tour," he added. "Will you be investigating that as well?"

"I think everything is on the table," Comer replied. "Look, we're investigating Joe Biden. We know that Joe Biden said during the presidential campaign that he had no knowledge of his son's business interests."

Comer argued that the Republican legislative solution would apply to the Trump family if they returned to the White House. He also suggested that Democrats had already investigated Kushner's business dealings as part of the Jan. 6 investigation.

"The difference between Jared Kushner and Hunter Biden is that Jared Kushner actually sat down and was interviewed," Comer said. "So, he's already been investigated."

"Hopefully, the Biden family will be as cooperative as Jared Kushner — with our investigation — as they were with the Jan. 6 investigation and all the other investigations of the Trump administration," he opined.

Stephanopoulos pointed out that Kushner's latest Saudi investments were reported in recent days and had not been investigated.

Watch the video below from ABC or at this link.

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House Oversight Committee Chairman **James Comer** is pushing baseless conspiracy theories about the Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon floating over the United States – currently, over Montana – that the Pentagon is tracking, and he’s being widely mocked for his unfounded fear-mongering.

Fox News host Harris Faulkner set the stage perfectly for the far-right Republican from Kentucky, declaring the balloon is “the size of three buses” and that “China says was taken by wind – wind that we can’t substantiate.”

The Kentucky congressman who has falsely described President Biden as “compromised,” and stated he is going to target and investigate him, told Faulkner, “I have concern this is going to be another example of the Biden administration’s weakness on the national scale.”

Comer, 50, a former agriculture commissioner, lamented about Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, claiming it hurt the reputation of America’s military and Commander in Chief.

The balloon, he said, should “never have been allowed” to cross over into the United States.

“My concern is that the federal government doesn’t know what’s in that balloon. Is that bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?” he asked, pushing unfounded theories while echoing the far-right’s false claims the COVID-19 virus was developed as a bioweapon and escaped the lab in Wuhan, China.

After suggesting it might have bioweapons, he then said it was “very concerning” the balloon was not shot down before reaching the U.S. – which could have spread the alleged bioweapon.

Faulkner, seen by some as a propagandist, then jumped in to exhibit her surprise that “people on Capitol Hill were not briefed” about the balloon.

“Calling for the president to ‘shoot down’ the craft,” The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona adds, “some in the GOP called the president ‘Beijing Biden’ while claiming this is further proof that ‘Communist China’ doesn’t ‘fear or respect’ Biden.” [ASK PUTIN, MIL --> PI]

riffing off musk? strict fr? lazy bureaucrats

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United States Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) on Wednesday blasted House Republicans over their opposition to improving the Internal Revenue Service, which has been plagued by staff shortages and antiquated technology.

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They complain about delay at the IRS, and then they oppose funding to assist the overwhelmed workforce at the IRS, which is staggering under the weight of all of these obligations," Raskin said.

GOP lawmakers have proposed legislation aimed at ending President Joe Biden's COVID-19 emergency powers and vaccine mandates for federal employees. Representative James Comer (R-Kentucky), the House Oversight Committee chair, argued that "Biden's unnecessary expansion of telework has crippled the ability of agencies to get their jobs done." Comer further stated that telework has "created massive backlogs," adding that "seniors have experienced delays with the Social Security Administration, American taxpayers have struggled to get help from the IRS during tax filing season and veterans have been unable to access the records."

Raskin noted in his floor speech that Comer has not provided any evidence to support his assertions.

"So, you know, this is the first time I've heard that telework was the source of the problem,but apparently that's what it is this week. Of course, we haven't had a real hearing, so we've had no witnesses on it. So somebody has apparently just dreamed that up. It's just been linked to the debt ceiling," he said. Raskin also knocked Republicans for their hypocrisy regarding that very issue.

"Interesting that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted to lift the debt ceiling three different times under Donald Trump, who increased the debt of the United States by single-handedly by more than 20 percent," he recalled. "All of the debt of the United States under one president – more than 20 percent."

Watch below or at this link.

an me 1 23

A new analysis is criticizing Rep. James Comer's (R-KY) blatant double standard regarding former President Donald Trump's classified documents.

Like many Republican lawmakers, Comer has had difficulty seeing Trump and President Joe Biden's situations through an unbiased lens. However, MSNBC's Steven Benen is explaining how the two cases differ vastly.

"There are obviously a handful of ongoing controversies surrounding national officeholders and alleged mishandling of classified materials, but by any sensible measure, the controversy surrounding Donald Trump is qualitatively different," Benen wrote.

He continued:

After all, the former president, unlike President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, ignored requests to return the relevant documents, and failed to comply with a federal subpoena," he explained. "And stands accused of obstructing the retrieval process. And reportedly proposed a possible trade in which he said he’d consider returning materials, but only if officials gave him something else in return. And launched a months-long crusade against federal law enforcement, literally equating the FBI with 'the Gestapo.'

Despite Trump’s track record of misconduct, Benen notes that the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Comer, does not appear to have any interest in investigating the former president.. Expounding on the issue, Benen wrote, "The Republican chairman of the panel, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky has not only defended the former president’s actions, he’s also dismissed the scandal’s importance."

"Comer is, however, deeply interested in pursuing the Biden story, despite the fact that it appears far less serious. How does the GOP chairman explain the double standard? He’s still working on that," Benen wrote.

Referencing Comer's Sunday night discussion with CNN’s Pamela Brown, Benennoted that the Republican lawmaker was asked one compelling question: "Does he have evidence of influence peddling surrounding Biden and classified documents?"

Comer responded saying, “We don’t know. We want to look.”

To that answer, Benen offered a critical assessment, writing, "It was like watching a snake eat its own tail."

Following that interview with CNN's Brown, Comer appeared the National Press Club while in Washington, D.C. where he explained his reason for not putting energy into the Trump classified documents investigation.

“Well, there’s a special counsel,” Comer explained. “There’s a special counsel and I am confident that that special counsel is looking into everything.”

However, Benen has pushed back with a detailed argument explaining why Comer's explanation falls flat. "It was not a good point," Comer noted.

"As the chairman of the House Oversight Committee really ought to know, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to scrutinize the Biden matter, too," Benen wrote. "If the existence of a special counsel investigating Trump leads Comer to believe he should focus his attention elsewhere, then the existence of a special counsel investigating the Biden story should lead him to the same conclusion."

an 1 23

powerful Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, **James Comer** (R-KY) is being highly mocked after declaring he will investigate **President Joe Biden** for “influence peddling” despite admitting there’s little if any evidence President Biden has engaged in influence peddling.

When pressed, he pointed to Biden’s classified documents and one alleged email from Hunter Biden’s laptop.

But when pressed again by a frustrated CNN host, asking why he’s not investigating ex-president Donald Trump, he couldn’t offer a valid reason, except to claim there no evidence of it.

Some were quick to point out the Trump’s tenure in the White House was filled with alleged influence peddling operations.

Here’s Chairman Comer with CNN’s Pamela Brown on Sunday. While the transcript is a bit simplified, it’s not far off.

JAMES COMER: We're investigating the Biden family for influence peddling\n\n

CNN'S PAMELA BROWN: But why not investigate the Trump family for the same?\n\nCOMER: We have no evidence\n\n

BROWN: What evidence do you have for Biden?\n\nCOMER: That's what we're investigating\u201d

— Aaron Rupar

https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/cnns-jake-tapper-calls-out-house-oversight-chairman-james-comer-his-biden-obsession

https://www.alternet.org/james-comer/

badash an 1 23

**U.S. Rep. James Comer** of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee is repeatedly pushing a baseless narrative that **President Joe Biden**, who has served his nation for 50 years, is “compromised.”

Chairman Comer, who has promoted the false theory of fraud in the 2020 election, blaming alleged “troubling reports of irregularities and improprieties” on Democrats, has been regularly criticized. He was deemed “a fundamentally unserious, dishonest, laughable caricature,” by Democratic strategist Sam Cornale on Wednesday, and mocked by The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank last year.

“In interviews with Fox News and other public pronouncements, Comer has alleged that the president’s son is responsible for just about everything,” Milbank wrote last year. “Why is fentanyl flowing into the United States?Hunter Biden. Why is President Biden pushing electric vehicles? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the president tougher on Russian oligarchs? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the administration pinning the pandemic on a Wuhan lab leak and battling China over currency manipulation? Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden. Why did the United States rejoin the Paris climate accord? Hunter Biden.”

On Tuesday, Fox News’ Sean Hannity led a highly-criticized interview with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, and Oversight Chair James Comer that was shockingly filmed inside the U.S. House of Representatives.

New York University Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on fascism and authoritarian leaders, responded by declaring, “Americans, I give you…President Murdoch and the coronation of Fox News as state media.”

Hannity and the top Republicans were surrounded by dozens of House Republicans,

sitting quietly, as the Fox News personality promoted their talking points.

**U.S. Rep. James Comer** of Kentucky, the Republican chair of the powerful

House Oversight Committee is repeatedly pushing a baseless narrative that **President Joe Biden**, who has served his nation for 50 years, is “compromised.”

“In interviews with Fox News and other public pronouncements, Comer has alleged that the president’s son is responsible for just about everything,” Milbank wrote last year. “Why is fentanyl flowing into the United States? Hunter Biden. Why is President Biden pushing electric vehicles? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the president tougher on Russian oligarchs? Hunter Biden. Why isn’t the administration pinning the pandemic on a Wuhan lab leak and battling China over currency manipulation? Hunter Biden and Hunter Biden. Why did the United States rejoin the Paris climate accord? Hunter Biden.”

Hannity and the top Republicans were surrounded by dozens of House Republicans, sitting quietly, as the Fox News personality promoted their talking points. [twt]

in addition to posting video, journalist Matt Laslo tweeted, “Hannity noted *to the lawmakers* (who are obediently sitting and saying nothing which is WILD) that many of the lawmakers in attendance might not make it on TV tonight but they gave up an hour to support the Speaker.”

But Chairman Comer made news for two remarks (both seen in the clip below): calling Ukraine – which is fighting to protect democracy in Europe and thus around the globe – an “adversary” of the United States, and strongly suggesting President Joe Biden is “compromised.”

“You know there’s a pattern here with Communist China, with Ukraine, with Russia, with our adversaries across the world,” he told Hannity. “And you look at the bad decisions that Joe Biden makes and this White House makes every day that has a detrimental effect on every American – you wonder, is this President compromised?" [twt]

hannity himself has promoted the baseless claim that President Biden may be “compromised.”

In a December interview with Comer, Hannity, known to have had nightly conversations advising Donald Trump when he was president,: “Do you believe it’s possible Joe Biden is compromised by Russia and China?” Comer dutifully replied, “I fear that he is.”

That word, “compromised,” is now being used by Comer and his fellow House Republicans repeatedly against President Biden – and his family.

On Monday, **U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs** (R-AZ), the former chair of the far-right **House Freedom Caucus**, a former policy advisor to an anti-LGBTQ hate group, and an alleged co-founder of the Stop the Steal movement, called President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and Hunter Biden, “compromised” – while making false claims about classified documents (and the Biden think tank) that were immediately handed over to the National Archives.

On Wednesday, Chairman Comer again baselessly used the word “compromised” against President Biden.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes,” Chairman Comer wrote in an official letter published by ABC News, to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, making an unsubstantiated claim as if it were fact.

“The Committee is investigating President Biden’s knowledge of and role in these schemes to assess whether he has compromised our national security at the expense of the American people,” Comer wrote.

ABC News adds that Comer “called the Biden probe a ‘top priority for House Republicans during the 118th Congress.'”

“The American people must know the extent of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s shady business deals and if these deals threaten national securityand his decision-making as president,” Comer told ABC.

Comer wasn’t done using the “compromised” word against President Biden.

“In a letter to the White House counsel today,” Politico on Wednesday reported, “new Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said the committee ‘is concerned that President Biden has compromised (intelligence) sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents.'”

Chairman Comer has even set up a microsite on the House Oversight Committee’s website, titled, “Biden Family Investigation.”

On it, he alleges, “If President Biden is compromised by deals with foreign adversaries and they are impacting his decision making, this is a threat to national security.”

Donald Trump’s tax returns show numerous foreign bank accounts, including in China, and there were reports of real estate deals in foreign countries while he was president, but Republicans ignored that.

“Two years into his presidency,” OpenSecrets reported in 2019, “Donald Trump continues to make money from properties and licensing deals in nearly two dozen countries around the world, fanning the flames of concerns that the Trump administration is subject to unprecedented levels of foreign influence.”

“Trump continued to hold more than $130 million in foreign assets in a revocable trust as his second year in office came to a close, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis of the president’s most recent annual personal financial disclosure released by the Office of Government Ethics last month,” the website, which tracks money in politics, noted. “Trump’s business entanglements continue to leave him with positions, assets, trademarks and other business interests in more than 30 countries.”

In November of last year,

:{Watch the videos above or :(style="display:block;padding-bottom:561px"):}:

https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-russia-collusion

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) tried to claim that the entire investigation into the Trump campaign's multiple contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign was a hoax -- only to run into a buzzsaw in the form of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Comer started off by mocking Schiff and other investigators for probing the Trump campaign's multiple contacts with Russian officials, including Donald Trump Jr.'s infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian national who promised him dirt on Hillary Clinton and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's frequent contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik, whom the FBI has identified as a Russian agent.

Schiff was quick to cut to the chase.

"Let me ask the gentleman... are you aware that the president's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly met with an agent of Russian intelligence and provided Russian intelligence with internal campaign polling data, as well as strategic insights about their strategy in key battleground states, are you aware of that?" Schiff asked him.

"I think everyone's aware of every bit of information that you all have tried to peddle," Comer replied.

"Let me ask you," Schiff continued. "Are you aware that while the Trump campaign chairman was providing internal polling data, that Kremlin intelligence was leading a clandestine social media campaign to elect Donald Trump? Are you aware of that?"

"I think we see every day that Russia was trying to do a Facebook campaign in Ukraine," Comer replied, without addressing Schiff's actual point.

"Would you like me to go on?" Schiff asked him.

Watch the video below.

an 12 22

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) is vowing to bring Twitter employees before Congress as part of an investigative effort to determine how they may have censored reports on Hunter Biden's laptop during the 2020 election cycle.

On Friday, December 3, the Kentucky lawmaker appeared on Fox News where he spoke with guest host Jason Chaffetz who asked him about the report written by Substack journalist Matt Taibbi. According to Taibbi's report, there was an "organized effort at Twitter" to suppress the circulation of the story.

Mediaite reports that "Taibbi, whose source was Elon Musk, reported Democrats and Republicans both had back channels that killed unfavorable tweets."

According to the news outlet, the journalist also claimed "internal Twitter files showed Democrats had more channels that were used to suppress unfavorable tweets and initial reports on Hunter Biden’s laptop."

Chaffetz, also a former chairman of the House Oversight Committee said, “They can’t figure out how to justify this type of suppression. What can Congress, what can the Oversight Committee do, and where are they going to go next with this?”

The Republican lawmaker responded by sharing his intent as chairman of the committee. "When I take your old position as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, I can promise you this: every employee at Twitter who was involved in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story will have an opportunity to come before Congress and explain their actions to the American people," Comer said. "This was a huge story."

He added, "When we announced the investigation of the Biden family and referenced material from the laptop, many in the mainstream media said this is just a conspiracy theory. The mainstream media is still trying to use the old talking points the laptop is somehow Russian disinformation."

According to Comer, Musk's decision to share Twitter's files with Taibbi suggests there was some form of collusive effort to diminish the circulation of reports on the social platform. The Republican lawmaker also commended theNew York Post for its original report which was published in October 2020.

He concluded by saying, “We are going to have every person at Twitter in front of the House Oversight Committee."

Watch the video below or at this link.

mma 11 22

House Republicans appear set on spending the next two years firmly ensconced within the right-wing media bubble, focusing on creating content for its Fox News stars after garnering a slim majority in the midterm elections.

On Thursday morning, just hours after news outlets had projected that Republicans would take control of the lower chamber, Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) held a news conference detailing what will apparently be the party’s top priority. Their announcement had nothing to do with the issues voters said they cared the most about when they went to the polls, like inflation or abortion rights. Instead, the incoming chairs of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, with the apparent approval of likely Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), promised to be laser-focused on business deals President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was involved in years ago.

As they spoke, the caucus’ official Twitter account was tweeting catchphrases that are incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t spend a significant amount of time in the right-wing information ecosystem[twt]

fox News hosts and their fellow travelers have been trying to use Hunter Biden’s business dealings as a cudgel against his father since before he launched his run for president. That fixation ultimately triggered Fox’s obsession and then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment for corruptly using his power to try to force Ukraine to launch a spurious investigation into the Bidens. The story returned to the fore in the closing weeks of the 2020 presidential election as part of a last-ditch effort by Rupert Murdoch’s outlets to use revelations from the alleged “Hunter Biden laptop” to keep Trump in office. And as Election Day 2022 approached, right-wing outlets were rife with demands for Republicans to use the power they might gain to scrutinize what they term the “Biden Crime Family.”

Indeed, Thursday’s event seemed made-to-order for the right-wing press, which rewarded the House Republican leaders with fawning coverage and airtime.

Fox prime time host Sean Hannity opened his program that night by crowing that “Republicans now have control of the House and soon, for the first time in two years, this administration will finally get their feet held to the fire” before spending several segments purporting to explain how “the big guy himself, Joe Biden” had “ended up using his crack-addicted son as a bag man.” He aired clips from Comer and Jordan speaking at the news conference, then rewarded Comer with an interview, which he concluded by thanking the congressman “for your hard work and your willingness to take on a hard topic.” During the next hour, hostLaura Ingraham also touted the event and aired clips before bringing on Jordan.

an 10 22

If Republicans retake the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterms, it’s a safe bet that the January 6 select committee will cease to exist — while House Republicans launch new investigations of the president’s son Hunter Biden. It won’t take a major red wave like the ones of 1994 and 2010 in order for Republicans to recapture the House; all they will need to do is flip five or more Democrat-held seats.

Journalist Eric Cortellessa examines House Republicans’ plans for Hunter Biden-related investigations in an article published by Time on October 3.

“If Republicans win control of the House,” Cortellessa explains, “they intend to ramp up efforts to paint Hunter Biden as a national security threat who has corrupted his father, using official committee investigations to present a degree of seriousness to what has often been an unserious endeavor.”

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky is likely to become chairman of the House Oversight Committee if Republicans have a majority in 2023, and Comer would probably lead Hunter Biden-related investigations. Comer is claiming that such investigations won’t be political in nature — a claim that House Democrats will find hard to believe.

Comer told Time, “We’re not investigating Hunter Biden for political reasons. We’re investigating Hunter Biden because we believe he’s a national security threat, who we fear has compromised Joe Biden…. The Hunter Biden investigation is slowly becoming the Joe Biden investigation.”

Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, who currently chairs the Oversight Committee, believes that any Hunter Biden-related probes launched by House Republicans in 2023 will be totally partisan in nature.

Maloney told Time, “Rather than join Democrats in making progress for the American people, Republicans are promoting a so-called investigative agenda that appears to be aimed at riling up their base and rehashing tired talking points from Donald Trump’s failed 2020 campaign.”

fossil fuel ceo

In the memo, Maloney wrote that ranking member Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who voiced his objection to the subpoenas at the hearing, continued his opposition. As a result, Maloney wrote, “it is clear that further consideration of the subpoenas at a Committee meeting would not serve any purpose. For all these reasons, I plan to proceed with issuing these subpoenas.”

===

mma 8 22

no lnx audio politico puff piece on GOP congressman poised to head House investigations leaves out key factsRep. James Comer is expected to chair the powerfulHouse Oversight Committeeif Republicans take the House in the midterm elections WRITTEN BY JOHN KNEFEL PUBLISHED 08/12/22 There’s a concept in journalism of a “beat sweetener,” a puff piece about a powerful person or organization that is usually designed to ensure that a reporter or outlet gets exclusive scoops in the future because the subject is about to become very influential and therefore newsworthy. Outlets publish these types of stories all the time, often reading like a press release aiming to smooth over any prior negative coverage. Politico published a textbook example of the genre on August 11, profiling Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who is expected to chair the powerful House Oversight Committee if Republicans win back the majority in the November midterm elections. Before laying out who Comer is, what he believes, and recent comments of his, it’s worth examining how embarrassingly flattering and uncritical this profile is in describing “the GOP's future king of Biden investigations.” “It’s easy to see why” Comer has “charmed many on the Hill,” Politico writes. Comer is “a sharp and affable colleague” with “personal appeal” and quick “to crack a well-timed joke that’s often at his own expense.” He’s not just a nice guy, though – “it’s his priority to ensure the oversight panel’s work remains ‘credible.’” Politico tells us Comer is “particularly well-suited to the task according to more than two dozen” of his Republican colleagues, in fact. Politico then gave Comer a chance to tell readers just how serious and professional he is. “I’m not going to be chasing some of these right-wing blogs and some of their conspiracy theories,” he told Politico. He added that he wouldn’t pursue any investigations “unless we have proof." The rest of the piece goes on like that until the 18th paragraph, with only a single, mild, passing criticism offered as balance, namely that he “lean[s] into partisan talking points, like describing the intelligence community as a ‘deep state’ on Newsmax after the FBI’s search of Trump’s home on Monday.”But alas, there is a lot about Comer that Politico left out. Although he may claim that he’s not chasing far-right conspiracy theories, his record shows otherwise. Particularly of note is that last month Comer appeared on Sean Hannity’s radio show and appeared to endorse the racist, antisemitic “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.“We believe there are a lot of nongovernment organizations who are working with this administration to transport these illegals all over the United States,” Comer said. “And I believe that this is part of their political business model to try to repopulate many of these states to be able to regain control or pad their margins.” Rep. James Comer on Hannity's radio show: NGOs are trying to "repopulate" states with "illegals" JULY 20, 2022 CitationFrom the July 20, 2022, edition of Premiere Radio Network's The Sean Hannity Show After a break, Hannity and Comer returned to the topic, at which point Hannity was even more explicit in his belief in the racist theory. “Is this that the Democrats want to offer something of great value to people that don't respect our laws, our borders, our sovereignty – and that being citizenship?” Hannity asked. “Because it sounds like it, and it sounds like they are doing: ‘So hey, we'll give you citizenship. We hope you vote for us.’ That's what it sounds like to me.” Comer agreed with the host. “That's what it sounds like to me, and I think most Americans are seeing that,” Comer said. “If 3 million illegals have crossed over to the United States, just since Joe Biden's become president – Sean, that's four new congressional districts. Four new congressional districts. So this is political. This is a political plan for the Democrats.” Comer then argued that undocumented people, including children, are a drain on scarce resources, before underlining the conspiratorial nature of what he believes is happening. “They've got some kind of handshake agreement behind closed doors in a smoke-filled room that, you know, this is gonna be good for the Democrat Party long-term,” he concluded. Rep. James Comer: NGOs and Democrats are bringing immigrants to the US because it's "good for the Democrat Party long term" JULY 20, 2022 Audio file CitationFrom the July 20, 2022, edition of Premiere Radio Network's The Sean Hannity Show Although the Politico profile also touches on possible future investigations of President Joe Biden’s son, the piece completely misleads its readers about Comer’s deep obsession with him. And though Comer has saidHunter Bidenwould likely get subpoenaed in the event of a declined invitation to the committee next year, he doesn’t want to appear trigger-happy with issuing subpoenas, either. “This isn’t a dog-and-pony show. This isn’t a committee where everybody’s gonna scream and be outraged and try to make the witnesses look like fools,” he said, before nodding at House Democrats’ past probes of the Trump campaign and Russian election interference. “Unlike Adam Schiff, we’re gonna have something concrete, substantive on Hunter Biden or I’m not going to talk about Hunter Biden.”The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank covered that topic in May, finding that Comer has claimed Hunter Biden is tied to nearly every single domestic or international news story in some way or another.Specifically, Comer has accused Hunter Biden of being responsible for supposed increased levels of fentanyl smuggling at the U.S. southern border, helping China’s battery market, protecting Russian oligarchs from sanctions, and impeding an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus.As Milbank lays out, each of these claims lies somewhere between gross exaggeration and pure fabrication, yet Comer has vowed to be “all over Hunter Biden” when he becomes chair of the House Oversight Committee.Comer’s far-right conspiracy theories don’t stop with Hunter Biden, however. He has also suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may have been partially responsible for the January 6 fascist riot by not requesting sufficient security. “I want to find out what did Nancy Pelosi know, and when did she know it?” Comer said on fringe cable outlet OAN about a month after the riot. Comer also supports run-of-the-mill conservative cruelty. Last June, for example, he claimed that the child tax credit was “really doing more harm than good.” In fact, the policy lifted more than 3 million children out of poverty before it expired at the end of 2021. He also supports the casual, anti-LGBTQ bigotry that’s ubiquitous in the Republican Party. According to two reporters present at the event that Politico attended, Comer used anti-trans rhetoric about “men” being able to give birth as a laugh line. That line didn’t make it into the Politico piece. Comer’s bigotry extends beyond the LGBTQ community. In July 2019, Donald Trump made racist comments about The Squad – four women of color in the House of Representatives – singling out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Black woman born in Somalia, saying she should “go back.” When asked about Trump’s tweet, Comer justified it and embellished Trump's racist argument. Somehow, that didn’t make it into the Politico piece either. Comer is poised to become incredibly powerful if the Republicans win back the majority in November. Stories like this one serve to rehabilitate his image and whitewash his history of far-right extremism.

===

R Street Films LLC- Company Profile and News - Bloomberg ...https://www.bloomberg.com › profile › company

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https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/james-comer

life 5%

2020 Score

Lifetime Score

10%

2016 Note: Representative Comer was sworn in on November 14, 2016, following the resignation of Representative Whitfield on September 6, 2016.

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https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmev9a/kentuckys-climate-change-deniers

2017 no lnx

Rep. James Comer (R-KY-01) Climate change denier "I do not believe in global warming. I'm the one person whose business and livelihood depends on Mother Nature, so I understand weather patterns. We've had a very severe winter this year with 12-inch snows, so there is no global warming." [cn|2] Call him: 270-487-9509 | Email him Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY-02) Climate change denier Voted against an amendment to the Electricity Security and Affordability Act (H.R. 3826) that would require Congress to accept the scientific finding "that greenhouse gas pollution is "contributing to long-lasting changes in our climate that can have a range of negative effects." [League of Conservation Voters] Call him: (270) 842-9896 | Email him Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) Climate change denier "I would challenge him [President Obama] to show us the linkage—the undeniable linkage—between droughts and the change of weather, and some kind of human activity." [The Washington Times] Call him: (606) 324-9898 | Email him Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY-05) Poor climate change voting record Voted in support of an amendment to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2015 (H.R. 4923), which would prohibit federal agencies from using funds "to design, implement, administer or carry out specified assessments regarding climate change." [Kentuckians for the Commonwealth] Call him: (606) 679-8346 | Email him Rep. Garland Barr (R-KY-06) Poor climate change voting record Voted in support of S.J. Res. 24, a "resolution of disapproval" under the Congressional Review Act that would nullify the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan—the first nation-wide limit on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and key climate change policy. [League of Conservation Voters] Call him: (859) 219-1366 | Email him Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Climate change denier "For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't." [Cincinnati.com] Call him: (502) 582-6304 | Email him Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) Climate change denier "I think that scientific debate should not be dumbed down to politics. I think this debate has become so dumbed down beyond belief. The Earth is 4.54 [billion] or 4.6 billion years old. Anybody who's ever studied any geology knows that over periods of time, long periods of time, that the climate changes, mmkay? I'm not sure anybody exactly knows why. But we have twenty-, thirty-, hundred-thousand sort of year cycles that go on with the climate. It has been much warmer than it is today. We have real data [for] about 100 years. So somebody tell me what 100 years data is in an Earth that is 4.6 billion years old? My guess is that the conclusions you make from that are not conclusive." [The Huffington Post] Call him: (270) 782-8303 | Email him

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2 stories at war at fossil fuel ceo:

note god devil terms

https://gizmodo.com/republicans-slobbered-all-over-themselves-to-apologize-1847959116

ref 3 gizmodo bAD CODE NO LNX

gop have a, shall we say,...relationship. But that relationship went from snuggly to downright NSFW on Thursday at a hearing ostensibly about...The House Oversight Committee welcomed executives from four fossil companies and two trade groups as well as a pipeline welder to probe decades of campaigns to confuse the public. There’s plenty of fodder. The past few years have seen...$59,956 in oil and gas money in the 2020 election cycle) said, thanking the company for increasing production. “I want to thank those companies that are actually increasing production,” Jordan later added.

“These companies beingvillainized,” said Rep. Jody Hice (recipient of $5,000 from the oil and gas industry in 2020, which talk about getting your money’s worth). Hice did not ask a question.

“It’s just people who don’t have anything better to do than type on their keyboards,” Rep. Byron Donalds ($18,110 from oil and gas interests so far this cycle) said of climate activists before turning to the oil CEOs. “Let’s be very clear, you need anapology. What I witnessed today isrank intimidation by the chair of this committee. ... It is disgusting, it is absolutely disgusting. Somebody better call Merrick Garland, tell him to get in here, and watch the intimidation that came from this very panel today. It’s not about defending Big Oil. ... I’m sorry for you. And I’m sorry for the people in our country who have to witness shenanigans like this.”

“While this committee may not like you because you’re executives, because your companies have been successful, I just want to apologize for the decorum. Because thank you for what you’ve done,” said Rep. Yvette Herrell ($115,126 from the industry she was overseeing, making her the second-biggest oil and gas recipient in the House so far this cycle). “There are people here who believe in you. Thank you. ... In fact, I would just submit tosaving anybody who has gotten a vaccination or who is going to get one, thank you to the oil and gas industry because I would bet that almost every single one of the syringes has been touched by a petroleum product. ... I just want to thank all of you for being here today.”

“You guys all have a good story to tell. Don’t be afraid to tell people how much cleaner things are than in the past. It doesn’t do any good for you any good to get allwokeon us,” Rep. Glenn Grothman ($30,576 from oil and gas in 2020 and $3,570 so far this year.)

“It’s been very shameful how the other side wants to demonize ouroil and gas industry. I’m very proud of our oil and gas industry, the innovators that adopt new tech, provide a higher standard of living, and jobs throughout our country,” saidRep. Bob Gibbs,the $28,558 oil and gas man in 2020. He later added, “I’m disappointed the chair failed to recognize that and demonize them on that.”

“I apologize to our witnesses that were called and asked to take part in this today,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, who has so far received $11,400 from oil and gas interests and raked in $237,375 in 2018. (2020 data was unavailable.)

“There is a moral case to be made for the fossil fuel industry and fossil fuels as a whole,” Rep. Pat Fallon, who has taken in $5,600 in oil and gas money. “If we want more abundant and inexpensive and cleaner energy—which we all should do—these witnesses here should be the ones that we are supporting and applauding and not demonizing.”

“These very important energy companies and the [American] Petroleum Institute understand you’ve got yourself here, you’ve seen the attitude of the folks on the left of this committee. When you get asked this morning that, aren’t you embarrassed, that’s really an irrational question to ask CEOs about their company,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, the receiver of $27,253 in oil and gas money in 2020.

“My, my, my. Good lord help us to be protected from this threat from within. American patriots are so done with career politiciansand Democratic socialist insanity... We are nauseated by thecontinuous attacks on working Americans and American industry. This entire debacle of a hearing today of why my colleagues across the aisle will lose their majority status very soon,” Rep. Clay Higgins predicted. (Higgins has received $10,426 in fossil fuel cash so far this cycle and $40,773 in 2020.)

“Did President Biden or anyone from the White House apologize to you?” Rep. James Comer, who received $18,500 in fossil fuel cash in 2020, asked the welder Republicans invited. (For the record, he did not....

a United Nations report out this week warns the world as a whole is facing a “production gap,” with more fossil fuels on tap to be produced than is compatible with a safe climate. Other reports have warned that new fossil fuel exploration must stop next year, emissions must fall at unprecedented rates over the next decade, and that cutting fossil fuel production and use is the most surefire way to do that. The reason we’re at this precipice is because the fossil fuel industry pursued a misinformation campaign while further entrenching their product with the global economy, fully aware that it would cause major climate damage.

It is also because Republicans (and a handful of Democrats) have blocked climate action, and have maintained a grip on power in no small part thanks to millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry. The industry has directed roughly 85% of its donations in 2020 to Republicans, and is on track to do the same this year (and has done the same in past years, too). Those same Republicans who apologized to the industry and thanked it on Thursday.

Anyways, this is all very cool and very legal.

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/james-comer/summary?cid=N00038260

2020

PAC Contributions* $459,450 62.41%

Large Individual Contributions $266,950 36.26%

Small Individual Contributions (< $200) $9,223 1.25%

Other $493 0.07%

Candidate self-financing $0 0.00%

sectors 2019 - 2020

Sector	Total
Agribusiness	$120,250
Communications/Electronics	$34,500
Construction	$39,500
Defense	$6,500
Energy & Natural Resources	$39,000
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate	$31,500
Health	$37,000
Lawyers & Lobbyists	$9,000
Transportation	$35,000
Misc Business	$43,500
Labor	$10,500
Ideological/Single-Issue	$50,658
Other	$8,500

Based on Federal Election Commission data available electronically on March 22, 2021.

2020

McCarthy Strategic Solutions	$12,900	$12,900	$0	$0
2	Falconite Real Estate Holdings LLC	$10,598	$10,598	$0
3	American Crystal Sugar	$10,000	$0	$10,000
4	American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians	$10,000	$0	$10,000
5	Bluegrass Cmte	$10,000	$0	$10,000
6	Majority Cmte PAC	$10,000	$0	$10,000
7	Rain & Hail Insurance Society	$10,000	$0	$10,000
8	National Thoroughbred Racing Assn	$10,000	$0	$10,000
9	National Auto Dealers Assn	$10,000	$0	$10,000
10	National Chicken Council	$9,000	$0	$9,000
11	Altria Group	$7,500	$0	$7,500
12	Farm Credit Council	$7,500	$0	$7,500
13	Stephens Pipe & Steel	$7,500	$7,500	$0
14	National Beer Wholesalers Assn	$7,500	$0	$7,500
15	National Ready Mixed Concrete Assn	$7,500	$0	$7,500
16	American Optometric Assn	$7,000	$0	$7,000
17	National Assn of Realtors	$7,000	$0	$7,000
18	Fluor Corp	$6,500	$4,000	$2,500
19	UnitedHealth Group	$6,250	$1,250	$5,000
20	BWX Technologies	$6,000	$2,000	$4,000

Contributor	Total	Individuals	PACs
Hunt Farms	$17,400	$17,400	$0
Brymak & Assoc	$11,600	$11,600	$0
American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians	$10,000	$0	$10,000
Bluegrass Cmte	$10,000	$0	$10,000
Stoll Keenon Ogden	$8,050	$3,150	$4,900

Top Industries, 2021 - 2022

Industry	Total	Individuals	PACs
Retired	$56,915	$56,915	$0
Crop Production & Basic Processing	$46,412	$40,412	$6,000
Lawyers/Law Firms	$18,950	$11,050	$7,900
Health Professionals	$17,889	$7,889	$10,000
Building Materials & Equipment	$17,501	$5,501	$12,000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comer_(politician)

James Richardson Comer Jr.^[1] (born August 19, 1972) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky who currently represents the state's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He previously served as the Agriculture Commissioner of Kentucky from 2012 to 2016 and in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2000 to 2012.

Comer unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election. A year later, he successfully sought the Republican nomination for Kentucky's 1st congressional district to succeed fellow Republican Ed Whitfield. On November 8, 2016, Comer won both a full term to the seat for the next Congress and a special election that allowed him to serve the remainder of Whitfield's term.

Early life and education

Comer is a native of Tompkinsville, Kentucky.^[2] He received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University in 1993.^[3] In college, he served as President of the Kentucky Future Farmers of America. After college, he started James Comer, Jr. Farms,^[4] a 2,300 acres (950 ha) farm with his family,^[5] and he is also co-owner of Comer Land & Cattle Co.^[6] He also served as a director of the South Central Bank for twelve years.^[3] He served as President of the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce from 1999 to 2000.^[3]

Kentucky politics

Kentucky House of Representatives

In 2000, Comer was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives at the age of 27.^[7]

Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture

...That year Comer became the chairman of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission,^[13] and shortly after taking office, Comer labeled the legalization of industrialized hemp as his top priority,^[14][15] and was "instrumental in getting the hemp industry up and running,"^[16] including the founding of several pilot programs^[17] in an effort to restart the industrial hemp industry of Kentucky. His efforts also included filing suit against the DEA, which resulted in the DEA allowing hemp seeds to be delivered to farmers in Kentucky for the first new crops.^[18] Between 2014 and 2015, the hemp crops of Kentucky grew from 33 to 1700 acres.^[19] Comer also advocated for national hemp deregulation in Washington DC.^[20]In 2011, Comer ran for the position of Agriculture Commissioner. The incumbent, Richie Farmer, was term-limited.^[8] In the election, Comer was the only Republican to win election to a statewide executive office,^[9] and worked with a team of Democratic officials and under a Democratic governor.^[10] Comer had the highest percentage of the vote of any candidate on the ballot. He raised $606,766 while his opponent raised $204,287.^[11] He took office in January 2012, and one of his first actions in office was teaming up with Democratic Auditor Adam Edelen to investigate his Republican predecessor's ethical issues while in office.^[12]

Comer also founded the Kentucky Proud Farm to Campus program,^[21] and created a mobile science centers program for primary and secondary school students to learn about agricultural sciences.^[22]

2015 gubernatorial election

Main article: 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election

U.S House of RepresentativesOn August 2, 2014, during the annual Fancy Farm picnic, Comer announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election.^[23] His running mate was State Senator Christian McDaniel.^[24] At the conclusion of voting in the May 19, 2015 primary election, Comer was 83 votes behind businessman Matt Bevin. The Associated Press, referring to the race as a "virtual tie", did not call the race in favor of either candidate. In addition, Comer refused to concede and stated that he would ask for a recanvass.^[25] The request for recanvass was filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State's office on May 20, 2015 with Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes ordering the recanvass to occur at 9:00 a.m. local time on Thursday, May 28, 2015.^[26][27] Upon completion of the recanvass, Grimes announced that Bevin remained 83 votes ahead of Comer.^[28] Grimes also stated that should Comer want a full recount, it would require a court order from the Franklin Circuit Court.^[29] On May 29, Comer announced he would not request a recount and conceded the nomination to Bevin.^[30]

Elections

2016

In 2016, Comer entered the Republican primary election for the 1st congressional district of Kentucky against two other competitors. Prior to the primary, he was endorsed by both the National Rifle Association and the US Chamber of Commerce.^[31] In the end, he won the primary with 60.6% of the vote.^[28] Comer was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Kentucky's 1st congressional district with 72.6% of the vote,^[16] Since Whitfield had resigned in September, Comer actually ran in two elections on November 8–a special election for the last two months of Whitfield's 11th term, and a regular election for a full two-year term. Comer won both elections over Democratic opponent Samuel L. Gaskins, garnering over 72 percent of the vote.^[32] He was sworn in soon after the results were certified, giving him two months' more seniority over the rest of the 2017 freshman class.

During the first few months of his tenure, Comer held several town hall meetings, where he discussed the Congress's early platform.^[33] He also partnered with Murray State University to form the Congressman James Comer Congressional Agriculture Fellowship program,^[34] and has advocated for the reform of agricultural legislation.^[35] He has also criticized the regulatory policies of Barack Obama,^[36] and supported the early domestic policies and actions of Donald Trump. Comer is a social conservative on "same-sex marriage and abortion".^[37] In terms of foreign policy, Comer believes that the trade embargo on Cuba should be lifted.^[38]

Tenure

In December 2017, Comer voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.^[39] After the bill's passing, Comer stated: "I am proud to support this critical part of President Trump's pro-growth agenda that will fulfill this promise to the American people who have struggled under the weight of Washington bureaucrats for far too long."^[40]

Comer was an original cosponsor of the Hemp Farming Act, which legalized hemp nationwide and removed federal regulations on the crop.^[41] The bill was later included in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2018.^[42] Comer was a member of the conference committee which negotiated the final version of the legislation ^[43]

At the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Comer teamed up with Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon to introduce legislation that would protect access to school lunches for school districts throughout the country that had to close down in light of the coronavirus.^[44] The COVID–19 Child Nutrition Response Act allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to waive requirements for children to gather at schools in order for school officials and food service personnel to distribute reimbursable, nutritious meals. It also provides local school officials with discretion over substitutions for meal components if supply or procurement is disrupted.^[45] When introducing the bill, Comer noted that "this bill is a critical step toward ensuring that our students maintain access to the school meals they rely on for their health and well-being".^[44] After clearing both the House and Senate, President Trump signed the legislation into law on March 18.^[45]

Committee assignments

Committee on Education and Labor
- Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Committee on Oversight and Reform
- As Ranking Member of the full committee, Comer may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
Committee on Agriculture
- Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research
- Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture

Caucus memberships

Political positions

Health care

Comer supports the repeal of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").^[47]

Economic issues

In 2016, Comer called the Obama administration's final budget a "disaster in the making". He believes that federal spending must become "under control" to not create "mountains of debt".^[47] In 2017, he voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which is anticipated to add an estimated $1.49 trillion to the national debt.^[48]

Comer opposes paid parental leave for federal workers.^[49]

Immigration

Comer opposes amnesty and sanctuary cities. He supports Executive Order 13767, the building of a wall along the Mexico–U.S. border.^[47]

Abortion

Comer is pro-life.^[47]

Drug policy

Comer supports declassifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 narcotic. He supports growing hemp. He says there is "simply not enough support for medical marijuana legalization across the board".^[50]

LGBT rights

Comer opposes same-sex marriage.^[47] He also opposes banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and voted against the Equality Act in 2019.^[51][52]

Iraq

In June 2021, Comer was one of forty-nine House Republicans who voted in favor of the repeal of the AUMF against Iraq.^[53][54]

Electoral history

...

Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky recently invited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to meet with coal miners in his state in the hope of showing her that a Green New Deal would harm them financially. But the 29-year-old congresswoman accepted his invitation, stressing that green energy is about job creation—not putting Americans out of work. And Barr, GQ is reporting, has withdrawn his invitation.

According to GQ’s Luke Darby, Barr is demanding that Ocasio-Cortez apologize to Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas over something that is unrelated to coal miners and the Green New Deal: Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s recent comments about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. After Crenshaw attacked Omar and claimed that she said the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks weren’t terrorism—which Omar never said—Ocasio-Cortez rose to Omar’s defense and called Crenshaw out on Twitter for having “the audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan” with “completely out-of-context” quotes. AOC pointed out to Crenshaw that “in 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost all domestic terrorist killings.”

Barr is maintaining that unless Ocasio-Cortez apologizes to Crenshaw, his invitation to speak to Kentucky coal miners is off. But according to Darby’s report in GQ, Republicans could be using the Omar controversy as a smokescreen — and Kentucky Republicans are worried that AOC could make some convincing arguments if she comes face to face with coal miners.

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky recently warned that he didn’t “see any upside” to bringing Ocasio-Cortez to his state and that “a lot of Republicans are making a mistake picking on her. I think we need to be very prepared when we debate her on issues that we’re having a hard time with.”

On April 16, Ocasio-Cortez responded to Comer’s assertion on Twitter and saw it as evidence that Republicans are “getting scared that up close, their constituents will realize I’m fighting harder for their health care than their own reps.”

2020 yes gt am outdoors acts rest no