PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: April 5, 2023
Washington D.C. – All throughout yesterday, and continuing this morning, House Oversight Chair James Comer kept up his Fox News appearances trying to peddle so-called bombshell revelations about classified documents and President Biden.. Except every single “revelation” Comer raised is old news. In response, Congressional Integrity Project, Executive Director, Kyle Herrig, released the following statement:
“Once again, Comer is firing blanks, wasting time and taxpayer resources to spread lies, speculation, and innuendo in his sad attempt to make the extreme right wing feel like he’s sufficiently attacking President Biden as part of their efforts to run interference for Donald Trump. Comer has spent the last two months prioritizing partisan stunts over the needs of the American people—it’s no surprise he’d do the same thing on the day of Trump’s indictment.”
COMER’S ‘NEW CLAIM’: Boxes Containing Classified Documents Went to Three Locations. “Today we learned that when Joe Biden left the vice presidency, boxes containing classified documents, vice presidential records, and other items were stored in three different locations around the Washington, D.C. area, including an office near the White House, an office in Chinatown, and eventually the Penn Biden Center.” [Fox News, 4/4/23]
- …WAS ACTUALLY REPORTED ON FEBRUARY 3: The Washington Post Reported That Boxes Containing Classified Documents Went to Three Locations. “During this period, the boxes from the White House were being stored in the transition office. They were later moved to a temporary location that the Penn Biden Center was leasing in Chinatown. Finally, they were transferred a few blocks away to the Penn Biden Center office, which opened in February 2018 near the U.S. Capitol.” [Washington Post, 2/3/23]
COMER’S ‘NEW CLAIM’: Then-White House Counsel Asked For Boxes To Be Retrieved In May 2022. “This story does not begin in November 2022, as represented by President Biden’s attorney […] then-White House Counsel Dana Remus tasked Kathy Chung with retrieving these boxes from the Penn Biden Center as early as May 2022.” [Fox News, 4/4/23]
- …WAS ACTUALLY REPORTED ON FEBRUARY 10: The New York Times Reported That Remus Found Boxes In Spring 2022. “But by late spring 2022, a year and a half into Mr. Biden’s presidency, a team of his lawyers decided they needed to go through the documents and other materials that remained at the think tank so it could be officially shuttered. The lawyers included Mr. Biden’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer; Dana Remus, then the White House counsel, and the campaign lawyer, Mr. Moore. Ms. Remus reached out to Ms. Chung to determine how they could gain access to the Penn Biden Center.” [New York Times, 2/10/23]
COMER’S ‘NEW CLAIM’: Comer Repeated False Claims Linking Hunter Biden To Classified Documents on Fox and Friends. “We learned docs were transported from Biden’s VP office to private sector [sic] in private cars, went to at least 3 initial locations – 1 in Chinatown and other was Penn Biden Center which we’re finding more evidence was almost exclusively funded by PRC – there was no lock on the door. All the things the special prosecutor will apparently try to indict on w/ classified docs, Biden did ~10x worse. We learned valuable info. We still don’t know what classified docs were, and we’re concerned w/ 1 found on HB laptop that HB sent to his cronies at Burisma…” [Fox News, Fox and Friends, 4/5/23]
- …WAS ACTUALLY REPORTED ON FEBRUARY 2: The Washington Post Fact Checker Concluded Hunter Biden Got Burisma Information From Newspapers, Not Classified Documents. “Hunter Biden has had a checkered life, marked by substance-abuse problems. But he is also a graduate of Georgetown University and Yale Law School. One can presume he acquired some research skills at those institutions. He was also well-connected, with contacts he could draw on for information. In the email he refers to possibly hiring a firm to provide information ‘that’s not available through a Google search and some phone calls’ — suggesting that that is what he relied on for writing the email. For nine years, The Fact Checker was diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post. I’ve seen my share of backgrounders, State Department cables and even the odd classified document. Far from being especially sophisticated, Hunter Biden’s email appears to be largely the product of diligent reading of recent newspaper and magazine articles. For instance, in one interview, Johnson said a reference in the email to potential new U.S. sanctions on Russia ‘certainly might have been’ classified information. But five days before the email was sent, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. could impose new economic sanctions on Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.” [Washington Post, 2/2/23]
On the Night of Trump’s Indictment. Comer Went on Fox News to Attack President Biden with Old Classified Document “Revelations.” On the same day former President Trump was arraigned in Manhattan for his indictment on 34 counts of falsified business records, James Comer and Jim Jordan took to Fox News to attack the elected district attorney investigating Trump and spread Comer’s old allegations about President Biden’s classified documents: “First of all, we learned that the documents didn’t just start mysteriously moving around in December of 2022 or November 2022 like the White House has alleged. She said this dates back to May of 2022, that the documents were moved from the Vice Presidency to at least three different locations in a personal vehicle. And why were they in three different locations? We don’t know. They weren’t stored behind any lock, one of the location was in Chinatown, and the other location was in the Penn Biden Center—which might as well have been Chinatown if you look at where their money was coming from—and that the White House has never been honest with the American people. […] So there are more questions today than we’ve ever had and this is ironically what the Special Counsel is apparently going after Trump next over, the next supposed indictment is gonna be over his mishandling of classified documents. Look at what Joe Biden’s done.” [Fox News, 4/4/23]