PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: November 3, 2023
Comer Fails Once AGAIN To Prove A Single Shred of Evidence of Wrongdoing
Yesterday, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson said he will soon decide whether to move forward with articles of impeachment against President Biden. He has said that he believes there is evidence of bribery, despite the fact that in the past year, MAGA Republicans have not found a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing by the President. Even Republicans’ own witnesses said there was not enough evidence to impeach. Everyone from Fox News and other right-wing news outlets to GOP staffers and Republican members of Congress have lambasted the failed impeachment inquiry.
Earlier this week, James Comer tried and failed once again to prove wrongdoing by President Biden. His latest so-called bombshell: another clear loan repayment that occurred when the president was neither in office nor a candidate for one. No wonder he announced this week that his impeachment inquiry is in a “downhill phase,” echoing his admission that he doesn’t want to hold any more hearings – maybe because the first one was such an embarrassment.
Comer is wrapping up his investigation with one unshakeable fact: he has been completely unable to show a single shred of wrongdoing by President Biden. Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson, James Comer, and their MAGA colleagues have one goal in mind – harm President Biden so Donald Trump can return to the White House – and they don’t care what lies and conspiracy theories they have to spread to get it done.
Comer’s Latest Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week when his claims were quickly debunked:
- Stephen Neukam (The Messenger): “We @TheMessenger reported this payment last week. And bank records suggest it was payback for a short term loan that Joe Biden gave to his brother.” [Stephen Neukam, Twitter, 11/1/23]
- Joe Perticone (The Bulwark): “The latest Comer reveal is just another loan repayment that occurred when Biden was neither in office or a candidate for office.” [Joe Perticone, Twitter, 11/1/23]
- The Washington Post: Does new House speaker really think Biden impeachment push is apolitical? “Where we end up is where we usually end up: Comer hyping a revelation that easily collapses under scrutiny. Comer offering that revelation in part to continue to position himself at the forefront of GOP efforts to impugn the president a year before the 2024 election.” [The Washington Post, 11/2/23]
- Wonkette: Joe Biden’s Brother Repaid A Loan From Him And If That’s Not IMPEACH Then These Idiots Don’t Know What Is. “If you haven’t heard, that hillbilly Comer has another BOMBSHELL… the thing he promised was the smoking gun, but then was proven just to be a loan from Joe Biden to his brother James, which was then paid back. This one is … wait, it’s just a smaller loan from Joe Biden to Jim Biden, which Jim Biden paid back.” [Wonkette, 11/3/23]
- MSNBC (Opinion): GOP’s Comer can’t shake dependence on false anti-Biden claims. “Comer still seems painfully aware of the fact that he hasn’t been able to deliver a coherent case against the president, not because of a lack of effort, but because the evidence simply doesn’t support his partisan crusade. ” [MSNBC (Opinion), 11/1/23]
- The Washington Post (Opinion): The Republican bait-and-bait approach to investigating Biden. “Comer, Grassley and their allies have showered unproved allegations onto Biden and (mostly) his family with the (probably intentional) effect of contributing to a miasma of wrongdoing.” [The Washington Post (Opinion), 10/31/23]
- Marcy Wheeler (Independent Journalist): Chuck Grassley and James Comer Brag That 40 Informants Couldn’t Substantiate a Crime against Biden. “The point being, even if the notion that the FBI used forty — 40!!!! — informants to investigate Donald Trump’s rival doesn’t set off alarm bells, the quality and the biases of the known informants should. […] The House investigation also made clear that at least some of Grassley’s forty informants aren’t credible sources, either.” [Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel (Opinion), 11/1/23]
Same thing last week: Comer’s claims of another clear loan repayment were quickly discredited as yet another nothing burger:
- CNN: Fact Check: Evidence Supports Democrats’ Case That Joe Biden Made A Personal Loan To His Brother. “But banking records reviewed by CNN, which Comer’s committee possesses, provide substantial evidence in support of the Democrats’ assertions that there was indeed a $200,000 loan from Joe Biden to James Biden less than two months before the James Biden ‘loan repayment’ check to Joe Biden for the same amount.” [CNN, 10/31/23]
- The Messenger: GOP Touts Bombshell Biden Payments — But Records Suggest Otherwise: “The records show in 2017, Joe Biden gave another short-term loan to his brother, sending him $40,000 from the same account maintained by his attorney. James Biden, again, repaid that loan without interest in just over a month, records show.” [The Messenger, 10/26/23]
- Independent Fact Checkers: “The Claims Have Outpaced The Evidence.” “But as has been the case so often in the House investigation of the finances of Joe Biden’s family members, the claims have outpaced the evidence so far.” [FactCheck.org, 10/26/23]
- MSNBC (Opinion): GOP’s Comer Can’t Shake Dependence On False Anti-Biden Claims. “House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has reason to feel discouraged. The Kentucky Republican has spent nearly the entire year trying to uncover evidence to support his investigation into President Joe Biden, and to date, the GOP congressman has come up empty. Many in his own party have made clear, publicly and privately, that they are ‘not happy’ with Comer’s failures. Making matters worse, the Oversight Committee chairman has been caught trying to justify his flailing efforts with claims that are clearly false.” [MSNBC (Opinion), 11/1/23]
In case you need a refresher on Comer’s previous terrible, horrible, no good, very bad weeks, when he has continuously failed to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden:
- October 2023
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- Comer’s latest witness, Scott Brady, testified that he failed to assess the credibility of a key source of bribery allegations against President Biden.
- Despite receiving more than 14,000 pages of bank records as part of his Biden family probe, Comer failed to find a single transaction showing any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden.
- September 2023
- Comer’s first impeachment inquiry hearing was an utter failure. Two of Republicans’ three witnesses, including Jonathan Turley, directly testified that there is no evidence to support impeachment: “If that’s what exists as a basis for this inquiry, it is not sufficient.”
- A former Ukrainian president refuted Comer’s outlandish claim that U.S. support for the war in Ukraine was rooted in a “conflict of interest” stemming from Hunter Biden’s business in the county.
- Comer found absolutely nothing from emails dating back to Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency.
- Comer’s claims that the Office of the Vice President supposedly colluded with Hunter Biden backfired when the actual evidence was revealed.
- August 2023
- Fact checkers debunked Comer’s false claims that President Biden’s use of an email pseudonym during the Obama administration was “code” for Hunter Biden.
- Comer’s much-hyped IRS whistleblowers’ claims about so-called interference with an investigation into hunter biden were debunked by at least six other witnesses brought in for questioning by Oversight Republicans.
- Comer’s third bank memo produced no evidence of a bribe.
- July 2023
- Comer’s supposed star witness, Devon Archer, failed to prove that President Biden did anything wrong.
- Comer’s top IRS whistleblowers testified that there’s no evidence President Biden interfered in IRS/DOJ investigations into Hunter Biden.
- June 2023
- Comer and Sen. Grassley failed to produce evidence of bribery after subpoenaing the FBI and risking the safety of confidential sources. He failed to mention that 40 FBI informants couldn’t substantiate a crime against President Biden. Worse still, the owner of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, had already rebutted the uncorroborated bribery allegations back in 2019.
- Comer hyped so-called bribery tapes, then later admitted… not knowing if they “really exist.”
- Comer falsely claimed that the Biden family took more than $20 million from foreign nations – even though only about $7 million could be directly attributed to Biden family members, mostly Hunter, while the rest went to associates.
- May 2023
- Comer’s second bank memo failed to produce evidence linking President Biden to any illegal activity.
- April 2023
- Comer blatantly misrepresented witnesses as “whistleblowers,” then refused to produce evidence substantiating his claims.
- February 2023
- In his first Oversight hearing, Comer pushed a “factually unsupported narrative” about the ‘Twitter Files’.
- November 2022
- During his first press conference, Comer said he had “evidence of federal crimes.” His report failed to name a single crime.