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Congressional Integrity Project September, 11 – September 15, 2023 Summary

Sep 15, 2023

This week, Congressional Integrity Project released a new report titled James Comer’s 8 Months of Abject Failure which highlights the total and complete lack of evidence that James Comer has uncovered in the past eight months of congressional investigations. The report also demonstrates how these investigations are nothing but political stunts designed to hurt President Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election all to help Donald Trump and MAGA.

Read the full report here. 

Still lost on Comer’s lies? Check out CIP’s Bullsh*t Decoder:

Congressional Integrity Project also released a new report titled Vulnerable Republicans Will Break Their Campaign Promises By Pursuing Impeachment which highlights promises that Republicans in the 18 House districts held by Republicans but won by President Biden in 2020 made to their constituents while running for office. These 18 members promised to focus on the real issues that matter to the American people like growing the economy, creating jobs, and lowering costs. Instead, MAGA Republicans in Congress have focused on doing Trump’s bidding, conducting bogus investigations into President Biden.

The report includes statements from Don Bacon (NE-2), Lori Chavez-Deremer (OR-5), Juan Ciscomani (AZ-6), Anthony D’Esposito (NY-4), John Duarte (CA-13), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), Mike Garcia (CA-27), Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-7), Jen Kiggans (VA-2), Young Kim (CA-40), Nick LaLota (NY-1), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Marc Molinaro (NY-19), George Santos (NY-3), David Schweikert (AZ-1), Michelle Steel (CA-45), David Valadao (CA-22), and Brandon Williams (NY-22).

Read the full report here. 

CIP sent out 24 rapid-response products, including statements, fact sheets, roundups, and reels.

Check out Congressional Integrity Project’s new reels:

Highlighting how many members of Speaker McCarthy’s caucus are not supportive of his impeachment proceedings

Highlighting the lack of evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden

Congressional Integrity Project released a new report titled James Comer’s 8 Months of Abject Failure which highlights the total and complete lack of evidence that James Comer has uncovered in the past eight months of congressional investigations.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new report outlining the Republicans’ eight months of failed investigations.

Congressional Integrity Project launched a new paid digital ad campaign in the eighteen Republican-held House districts across the country that were won by President Biden in 2020.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed an impeachment inquiry into President Biden this week – despite having no evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever and forgoing the important priorities of Americans across the country. Unsurprisingly, the impeachment inquiry comes at the hands of Donald Trump. 

Congressional Integrity Project released a new report titled Vulnerable Republicans Will Break Their Campaign Promises By Pursuing Impeachment.

James Comer and Oversight Republicans hold a baseless and hypocritical hearing on lawsuits they don’t agree with.

Hunter Biden was indicted by special counsel David Weiss.

CIP was mentioned or quoted in the following 23 articles or news appearances.

AP News: McCarthy juggles a government shutdown and a Biden impeachment inquiry as the House returns for fall. “‘He’s being squeezed,’ Brad Woodhouse, a veteran Democratic operative, said of McCarthy. Woodhouse is now a senior adviser to the Congressional Integrity Project, which is preparing to criticize Republicans over the Biden impeachment.” [AP News, 9/11/23]

The Guardian: Biden impeachment inquiry ‘eight months of abject failure’, watchdog report says. “James Comer, the ambitious chairman of the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, has repeatedly overhyped allegations of bribery and corruption against Biden without once producing hard evidence, according to the Congressional Integrity Project… ‘After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his Maga crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations,’ says the report by the Congressional Integrity Project, which monitors the Republican investigations. ‘In fact, Republicans have been forced to walk back claim after claim.’” [The Guardian, 9/11/23]

The Messenger: Watchdog: Biden Impeachment Inquiry Has Been ‘8 Months of Abject Failure’. “The Congressional Integrity Project, a left-of-center advocacy group, released a report Monday titled ‘James Comer’s 8 Months of Abject Failure.’ Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig blasted Comer’s investigations in a statement, saying all he’s proven is he’s incapable of leading the House Oversight Committee. ‘As Kevin McCarthy seems ready and willing to bow to Donald Trump and extremist MAGA members like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene by moving forward with impeachment based on Jamie Comer’s investigation, it’s important to recognize that the only thing Comer has proved so far is that he is not capable of conducting legitimate oversight and should not be trusted to lead this important committee,’ Herrig wrote.” [The Messenger, 9/11/23]

The Hill: Left-leaning watchdog calls Comer’s investigation into Biden a ‘complete and total failure’. “A left-leaning watchdog group railed against House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), calling his investigation into President Biden and his family’s foreign business deals a ‘complete and total failure.’ ‘The past eight months have been a complete and total failure, with Comer wasting all of his committee’s time on a series of political stunts that have failed to uncover a shred of evidence of wrongdoing against President Biden,’ Kyle Herrig, the executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, wrote in a statement Monday.” [The Hill, 9/11/23]

The New Republic: Republican Investigation Into Biden Is an “Abject Failure”: Watchdog Report. “James Comer’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s alleged corruption has resulted in ‘eight months of abject failure,’ a watchdog group’s new report said. Republicans have insisted for months, despite producing no actual evidence, that Biden is guilty of corruption and influence peddling overseas. Comer, the House Oversight Committee chairman, has led the charge, constantly claiming that he is one star witness or bank record away from revealing the grisly truth. […] Republicans are expected to open an impeachment inquiry into Biden to prove that he benefited from his son Hunter’s business dealings overseas. But they have yet to find any evidence that Biden was ever involved in Hunter’s work. The president’s utter lack of involvement matches testimony from multiple supposed whistleblowers. Republicans have heard testimony from IRS agents, Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer, and former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas. None of them was able to provide concrete evidence that Biden was involved in his son’s business. In fact, both Archer and Parnas said nothing could be further from the truth.” [The New Republic, 9/11/23]

Raw Story: ‘Eight months of abject failure’: New report piles dirt on James Comer’s impeachment inquiry. “The Congressional Integrity Project faulted House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-KY) for ‘eight months of abject failure’ to prove the president was guilty of wrongdoing related to his son, Hunter Biden, although polls show the effort had convinced 42 percent of Americans that he had acted illegally, reported The Guardian. ‘After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his MAGA crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations,’ the watchdog report says. ‘In fact, Republicans have been forced to walk back claim after claim.’” [Raw Story, 9/11/23]

Forward Kentucky: Six takeaways from new report highlighting Comer’s 8 months of failed investigations. “The Congressional Integrity Project has been excoriating Jamie Comer for months over his efforts to smear the Bidens. Now the Dems on the Oversight Committee have released their own report on Comer’s actions.” [Forward Kentucky, 9/11/23] 

Alternet: James Comer’s ‘exaggerated’ Biden corruption allegations have ‘shriveled under scrutiny’: watchdog. “According to a Congressional Integrity Project report, Comer’s probe has hyped bribery allegations against Biden but without producing any hard evidence… ‘The report offers an anatomy of a fake scandal, detailing a series of exaggerated assertions that have shriveled under scrutiny,’ The Guardian’s David Smith reports. ‘They include Comer saying, at his first press conference, that he had evidence of ‘federal crimes committed,’ relentlessly invoking ‘Deep State’ conspiracy theories and claiming that his whistleblowers ‘fear for their lives.'” [Alternet, 9/11/23]

McClatchy DC: Kentucky’s Comer tapped to lead impeachment inquiry into President Biden. “But critics believe that the Kentuckian has consistently overpromised and under-delivered in producing evidence that Biden assisted his son’s business dealings. The Congressional Integrity Project, a left-of-center group, released a report Monday describing Comer’s ‘eight months of abject failure’ to prove the president was guilty of a bribe.” [McClatchy DC, 9/12/23]

CSPAN: Washington Journal. “The chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee has repeatedly overhyped allegations of bribery and corruption without producing hard evidence according to the Congressional Integrity Project.” [CSPAN, 9/12/23]

Vanity Fair: House Democrats: Republicans Backing Biden Impeachment Should Just Give It a Rest. “The White House has repeatedly denied these accusations, and the Congressional Integrity Project—a Democrat-aligned activist group monitoring the GOP’s Biden probes—has refuted them as well, issuing a rebuttal that tracked closely with Raskin’s memo. ‘After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his MAGA crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations,’ the group stated in a new report. ‘In fact, Republicans have been forced to walk back claim after claim.’” [Vanity Fair, 9/11/23]

Washington Post: The media-elite narrative about Hunter Biden sits on the right. “In one of those bits of synchronicity that are probably not accidental and which seem to occur on occasion in Washington, the Democratic minority on the House Oversight Committee and the supportive external group Congressional Integrity Project released deprecatory assessments Monday of the House Republican effort to intertwine President Biden and his son Hunter’s business activities.” [Washington Post, 9/11/23]

Los Angeles Times: Biden impeachment push puts vulnerable California Republicans in a tough spot. “Impeachment is not popular in the 18 districts that Biden won in 2020 but that are currently held by House Republicans, according to an August poll commissioned by the Congressional Integrity Project, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit. Five of those vulnerable incumbents— John Duarte of Modesto, Young Kim of Orange County, David Valadao of Hanford, Michelle Steel of Seal Beach and Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita — represent California districts.” [Los Angeles Times, 9/12/23]

Fresno Bee: McCarthy’s vow to open Biden impeachment probe puts vulnerable California Republicans in a tough spot. “The Congressional Integrity Project launched a digital ad campaign against all 18 Biden-district Republicans on Tuesday. ‘After seven weeks at home, Representative Mike Garcia is returning to Washington,’ one ad says. ‘America faces critical priorities: healthcare, the economy, the cost of living. But MAGA Republican leaders like [Kevin] McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene want to focus on their bogus impeachment of President Biden, even though they have no evidence. All to protect Donald Trump.’ The ad then urges viewers to call Garcia’s office to ‘tell him to focus on real priorities. Not Bogus impeachment stunts.’” [Fresno Bee, 9/12/23]

Politico: New York Playbook. “IMPEACHMENT PUSHBACK: A Democratic-aligned group on Tuesday is set to unveil a digital ad campaign meant to push back on the prospect of impeaching Biden by taking the fight to battleground House Republicans. The Congressional Integrity Project is launching ads in 18 Republican-represented districts across the country with the goal of highlighting the political risks of impeachment, according to details shared exclusively with Playbook. Not surprisingly, many of the ads will appear in New York House districts as the state could potentially play a decisive role in which party will control the chamber after 2024. The ads will appear in six key New York House battleground districts of Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, George Santos and Brandon Williams.” [Politico, 9/12/23]

Syracuse.com: Rep. Brandon Williams backs GOP decision to open Biden impeachment inquiry. “The Congressional Integrity Project, a group aligned with Democrats, began running digital ads Tuesday against the 18 Republicans, calling on them to focus on ‘real priorities.’ The group cited polling that found a majority of voters in the key battleground districts think an impeachment inquiry is more about helping Donald Trump in the 2024 election than finding the truth.” [Syracuse.com, 9/12/23]

Oregon Capitol Chronicle: Bentz supports Biden impeachment inquiry, Chavez-DeRemer distances herself. “Bentz represents a safely Republican district in eastern Oregon, while Chavez-DeRemer’s 5th Congressional District is more competitive. She won by 2 percentage points last year and Biden won the district  in 2020. The Congressional Integrity Project, a Democratic group, on Tuesday announced a digital ad campaign targeting Chavez-DeRemer and 17 other Republicans in districts Biden won over the impeachment inquiry.” [Oregon Capitol Chronicle, 9/12/23]

NJTODAY: Speaker Kevin McCarthy directs House panel to open Biden impeachment inquiry. “Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. is a New Jersey Republican who has assiduously sought to avoid being labeled as a right-wing extremist while also pandering to fanatic MAGA Tea Party radicals, but he is being called out on that by Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig.’The MAGA-led House majority hasn’t passed a single bill into law to address inflation, lower the cost of prescription drugs, or address the high cost of college. These are the issues that are top priorities for voters across the country and in NJ-7. Yet, while Donald Trump gets in more and more legal hot water, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy are accelerating their bogus, evidence-free impeachment,’ said Herrig. ‘The Congressional Integrity Project is calling on Tom Kean, Jr. to go on the record rejecting this unwarranted political stunt and demand that Kevin McCarthy instead focus on real priorities for American families rather than using their congressional majority to defend Donald Trump and tarnish President Biden,’ said Herrig.” [NJTODAY, 9/12/23]

Forbes: How The Biden Impeachment Inquiry Could Backfire On Republicans In 18 Purple Districts. “The Democratic-aligned Congressional Integrity Project last month launched a digital ad campaign in the 18 districts accusing them of sitting idly as “MAGA Republicans” are “wasting dollars on partisan stunts instead of tackling issues that the American people care about.” The group also recently commissioned a poll from the left-leaning Public Policy Polling firm that found 56% of voters in those districts believe an impeachment inquiry would be a “partisan political stunt,” while 55% said the effort would be designed to benefit Trump, compared to 41% who said it would be aimed at fact-finding.” [Forbes, 9/13/23]

Roll Call: At the Races: Shutdown? Shhh… “Ad watch: The Congressional Integrity Project launched a digital ad campaign targeting the 18 House Republicans who represent districts won by Biden in 2020 and urging them to oppose impeachment.” [Roll Call, 9/14/23]

CNN: Biden advisers plotted impeachment response plan ahead of McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry announcement. “And a Democratic group, Congressional Integrity Project, has been one of the outside entities leading the charge on messaging against the impeachment efforts, including through polling memos and fact sheets. One of the group’s objectives is targeting the 18 House Republicans in districts Biden won. ‘While McCarthy is trying to avoid a vote on an impeachment inquiry to save the Biden 18 from going on the record, the American people deserve to know where the Biden 18 stand on an evidence-free impeachment, and we will hold them accountable for the promises they made to the American people when they ran for their office,’ said Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project.” [CNN, 9/14/23]

TIME Magazine: Biden Allies, But Not the White House, Cite Kushner in Discrediting Impeachment Push. “Leslie Dach, a senior adviser to the Congressional Integrity Project, a group founded to push back on House Republicans’ investigations, says Democrats’ strategy in addressing the inquiry should largely continue to center on calling out House Republicans’ lack of evidence against Biden. But he also thinks there’s room to highlight their hypocrisy. Asked what Democrats need to do to respond most effectively to the inquiry, Dach says, ‘What they are doing, which is to repeatedly point out the lies that these accusations are built on, which are now obvious. And also to remind voters that this is not what they want their elected representatives to do. They want their elected representatives to address their real problems.’” [TIME Magazine, 9/14/23]

AP News: The Republicans most at risk in next year’s election are falling in line behind impeachment inquiry. “The Congressional Integrity Project, a Democratic-aligned group, has already launched digital ads hammering the probe in the 18 Republican-led districts that Biden won. The ads frame the impeachment inquiry as hatched by McCarthy and conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in an effort to help former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a rematch with Biden in 2024. The ads call on the lawmakers to ‘focus on real priorities, not bogus impeachment stunts.’… Brad Woodhouse, a longtime Democratic strategist and senior adviser to the group, said Republicans have failed to get signature priorities over the finish line while fighting amongst themselves over lifting the debt ceiling and funding the government. That’s a vulnerability that will be magnified during an impeachment fight, he said. ‘Short of impeachment, it wouldn’t be hard to go say that this Republican-led Congress has failed miserably to address the issues you care about,’ Woodhouse said of the message to voters. ‘But when you combine it with having wasted half a year or whatever it is on impeachment, it’s going to be a really powerful message for the challengers to these Republican members.’” [AP News, 9/15/23]