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Meet the Extreme James Comer: Power Hungry Hypocrite

Dec 28, 2022

All this month, the Congressional Integrity Project is introducing one of Donald Trump’s staunchest MAGA allies – Representative James Comer. Just last month, the American people rejected the extreme MAGA agenda and said they want our leaders to focus on solving the real problems they face. But MAGA Republicans aren’t listening. As soon as they won the House, they immediately turned to the Trump playbook of political attacks, stunts, and partisan warfare. Investigations under the new Republican-led committees will be conducted following the Trump playbook: divisive and politically motivated attacks on President Biden, his family, and his administration at any cost, all to increase Comer’s own power to pursue the radical agenda of his MAGA allies. 

The very first day after the race for a House majority was called for Republicans, Reps. Comer and Jim Jordan held a press conference focused on their investigation of the Biden family, showing it was their top priority for 2023, rather than issues that actually matter to Americans, like inflation or the cost of living. Leading the charge, Comer has made it clear he will use his position as the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to hurt President Biden and gain his own political power. 

  • REP. JAMES COMER: “Well, I think that there are a lot of factors that are going to prevent Joe Biden from running. His age, the results of the midterm elections in two weeks. But also his son. Look, this Biden family investigation’s only going to ramp up in a Republican majority.” [“Fox and Friends,” Fox News, 10/26/22
  • Straub: Rep. Comer More Interested in “Embarrassing Democrats Rather Than Coming to Grips with the Truth.”  Northern Kentucky Tribune columnist Bill Straub wrote last year how Rep. Comer seemed more interested in “embarrassing Democrats rather than coming to grips with the truth.” He called Comer “a Trump acolyte or, if you prefer, a Trump tool” and said, “Fair play obviously is not Comer’s style, as we’ll find if he wields the committee hammer.” [Northern Kentucky Tribune (Opinion), 12/3/21]

But where was Comer during the Trump administration? At every turn, Comer looked the other way when corruption took place from inside the White House. Comer and House Republicans opposed issuing subpoenas, obtaining documents, and trying to get testimony to conduct legitimate oversight of this corruption.

  • GQ: How Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump Have Profited Off Their Dad’s Presidency. “In April 2017, a real estate firm tied to the Kushner family made a direct appeal to the government of Qatar to invest…A month later, when a coalition of Persian Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates organized a blockade of Qatar, Kushner was among its most vocal U.S. supporters.” […] In the months that followed, Kushner developed a close working relationship with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman—close enough that bin Salman allegedly told confidants that the president’s son-in-law was ‘in his pocket.’ Fortunately, help for the Kushner family’s financial woes subsequently arrived in the form of Brookfield Asset Management, which acquired a 99-year lease on 666 Fifth Avenue for about $1 billion in April 2018. This miraculous timing allowed the Kushners to pay off its existing mortgage and buy out its partner in the venture, Vornado Realty Trust. The buyer was [funded by] the government of Qatar.” [GQ, 10/14/19, 3/22/18; Wall Street Journal, 8/3/18]
  • Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Children Take In Millions Overseas As President Slams Biden’s Son. “Time and again, Trump’s children have blurred the lines of family, nation and business — essentially the charge the president makes against the Bidens as he battles a House impeachment inquiry focused on whether he improperly pushed Ukraine to investigate his political rivals for what he claims were shady dealings. Trump’s children ‘appear to people all over the world to be his bagmen,’ said Richard Painter, who served as White House ethics czar under President George W. Bush. ‘This is the Trump business empire. It’s owned by Donald Trump, the president, and they are managing it for him and collecting business on his behalf.’” [Los Angeles Times, 10/10/19]
  • HEADLINE: Jared And Ivanka Made Up To $640 Million In the White House. “Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reported between $172 million and $640 million in outside income while working in the White House, according to an analysis of financial disclosures by CREW. […] Both Kushner and Trump announced they would not take a salary while working for the government in an attempt to shut down nepotism concerns. While their supporters marked this as a public sacrifice, the massive amount of money they made on the side undercuts that argument, as government salaries would have been less than 1% of their income.” [CREW, 2/8/21]
  • Ivanka Trump Obtained Three Preliminary Trademark Approvals On The Same Day She Dined With The Chinese President. “On the same day Trump and his daughter dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in April 2017, China awarded her three preliminary trademark approvals for jewelry, handbags and spa services. In all, she has obtained more than a dozen Chinese trademarks since entering the White House, ensuring her access to the world’s second-largest economy if she goes back into business.” [Los Angeles Times, 10/10/19]

For months, Rep. Comer’s true intentions of becoming chair of the Oversight Committee: weakening President Biden. These investigations are not about finding facts, ferreting out “waste” in government, or focusing on the real issues facing Americans. They are about turning the House Oversight Committee into a Trump-style partisan attack machine, to do or say anything to gain power.

The American people can’t trust these investigations after James Comer and MAGA Republicans impeded legitimate oversight of President Trump for so long. The American people will see that this is nothing more than partisan warfare and political stunts by Comer and his MAGA Republican allies meant to weaken their opponents to gain power for themselves. The American people cannot trust Power Hungry Hypocrite, James Comer.