PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: December 4, 2023
Washington, D.C. – Today, James Comer released yet another video of desperate disinformation with misleading claims regarding payments between Joe Biden and his son.
While Comer claimed that Joe Biden receiving a recurring payment from his son’s business account is proof of influence peddling or wrongdoing, the already-reported on payments happened while President Biden neither held public office nor was a candidate for one, and included three payments totaling less than $5000. Other records show that the payments were Hunter reimbursing his father for car payments.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director, Kyle Herrig, issued the following statement:
“There aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the level of shamelessness reached this morning by James Comer and House Republicans. They clearly have nothing – not a single shred of evidence demonstrating wrongdoing by President Biden – so they are beyond reaching, pointing to car repayments between family members as some sort of nefarious conspiracy. Frankly, it’s stupid, and it’s a waste of everyone’s time. If MAGA Republicans weren’t so laser-focused on this instead of solving the real issues facing the country, it would almost be funny. But honestly – is James Comer stupid – or does he think all of us are?”
Commentary
- Raw Story: ‘Swing And A Miss’: Critics Pan James Comer’s Latest Biden ‘Bombshell’. “Rep. James Comer (R-KY) on Monday unveiled another purported “bombshell” revelation of corruption by President Joe Biden — but critics say that, like many of his past efforts, this one failed to live up to the hype. […] However, independent journalist Yashar Ali notes that the three payments of $1,380 each to Biden are simply repayments of a loan that Biden gave to his son to pay for a truck during a time when he was low on cash. Additionally, these payments were reported by the New York Post well over a year ago and are not new information. Comer critics were quick to pounce after seeing that his latest hyped-up Biden bombshell appeared to be another dud.” [Raw Story, 12/4/23]
- PoliticsUSA: James Comer Humiliates Himself By Trying To Impeach Joe Biden For Paying Off His Son’s Truck. “It is fair to ask if James Comer thinks that we are all a bunch of idiots because he is treating the American people like they are stupid. Paying off your son’s truck for him, and then having your son pay you back is not an impeachable offense. The tell on Chair Comer’s part is that he never says in the video precisely what the payments were or what they were for, but the details that the House Oversight Committee Chair provided made them easy to track down. House Republicans are trying to impeach President Biden for paying off his son’s truck. The Biden impeachment investigation has been an exercise in failure and humiliation, but this could be James Comer’s new low.” [PoliticsUSA, 12/4/23]
- David Corn: “These appear to be monthly payments (already reported in the media) of $1,380 for a truck. I don’t think fronting a son money for a truck is an impeachable offense. Another swing and a miss.” [@DavidCornDC, X, 12/5/23]
- Yashar Ali: “So, these three payments of $1,380 each (totaling $4,140) appear to be Hunter Biden paying his dad back for truck loan/lease payments that his dad paid on his son’s behalf when Hunter was low on cash. My source is an NY Post article about Hunter’s finances and emails from the Hunter Biden email archive.” [@Yashar, X, 12/4/23]
- Aaron Rupar: “James Comer said these payments were linked to China. James Comer is lying. Don’t be like James Comer.” [@atrupar, X, 12/4/23]
- Bradley Moss: “Big ol’ swing and a miss.” [@BradMossEsq, X, 12/4/23]