House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) stepped into a shitstorm of his own creation today when he issued a press release online claiming he had uncovered “proof” that President Joe Biden had accepted illegal bribes from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine.
In the press release, the Oversight Committee makes the following claims:
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today released a third bank records memorandum detailing new information obtained in the Committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes. The memorandum outlines how the Bidens and their business associates received millions from oligarchs in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine during Joe Biden’s vice presidency. After Hunter Biden received millions of dollars in payments, then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with his son’s foreign associates in Washington, D.C. Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, recently testified that then-Vice President Joe Biden was “the brand” sold to enrich the Biden family and was used to send “signals” of access, power, and influence.
There was also this direct quote from Comer himself:
“During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered. This is made clear by meals at Café Milano where then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son. It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States. The House Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”
Wow! Sounds serious, doesn’t it?
But as Philip Bump of the Washington Post quickly proved, Comer has proven nothing at all other than the fact that he clearly believes everyone in the U.S. is illiterate.
Speaking on Fox News last month, Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) implied that the alleged bribe was paid so that President Biden would push for the firing of Ukraine’s prosecutor general. This has been debunked repeatedly, for nearly four years. The timeline presented on Fox didn’t match actual events, and Archer had testified that the eventual firing was understood to be detrimental to Burisma, not beneficial.
But it’s all Comer’s got. His team tried to dig up this bribe that they have convinced their allies exists, without luck. So he issues a news release about the “Biden family” and suggests that bribery claims don’t need actual proof and prepares for his next Sean Hannity interview.
So where’s the evidence of bribery? Bump asks. It’s sure as hell nowhere to be found in Comer’s “proof” of a crime.
Bump also notes, “There’s no alleged bribe to Hunter Biden, either. The new report from Comer delineates regular payments to Hunter Biden and Archer in 2014 and 2015 totaling about $3.3 million. The document points at whistleblower testimony claiming that the pair earned $6.5 million from Burisma. That’s not $5 million for Hunter Biden — and it’s not obviously a ‘bribe.’ The pair sat on the company’s board and, according to Archer’s testimony, did board-related work for Burisma, however obviously derived from Hunter Biden’s last name their work might have been.”
In other words, Comer has given the world yet another giant nothingburger, but he did manage to put a new bun on the treat, hoping all those sesame seeds and buttery brioche taste would make the vacuous “meat patty” (i.e. specious allegations) make us forget that there’s nothing but air between the bread.
Comer is grasping at straws, and his only real agenda is trying to deflect from the many real crimes Donald Trump is accused of committing.
