PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: May 23, 2023
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer admitted in an interview that MAGA Republican’s investigations into President Biden are really all about getting Donald Trump re-elected. This follows Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan making similar comments before the 2022 election. Using taxpayer financed congressional investigations for political purposes is inappropriate and unethical – but James Comer doesn’t seem to care as he’s more interested in sucking up to Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans than doing the right thing.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director, Kyle Herrig, issued the following statement:
“Speaker McCarthy should know better than anyone that conducting politically motivated investigations to help Donald Trump win an election is wholly inappropriate. Instead of using the House Oversight Committee to address the issues that keep Americans up at night, Comer is playing transparent political games to suck up to Donald Trump and ultra MAGA Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene. When Kevin McCarthy declared in 2015 that the Benghazi investigations were about defeating Hilary Clinton, that admission cost him a shot at the speakership. With that lesson in mind, we are calling on Speaker McCarthy to denounce James Comer for using his committee for these political stunts. The American people deserve better.”
Congressional Republicans Openly Admitted Their Investigations Would Be a Sham Before They Even Took Control of The House. House Republicans were already openly admitting that their investigations would be designed to target political opponents and influence public opinion for the 2024 elections before they ever took control of the House of Representatives:
- Rep. James Comer told Fox News, “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]
- Rep. Jim Jordan: “so, all these things need to be investigated just so you have the truth, plus that will help frame up the 2024 race, when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run again and we need to make sure that he wins…” [Politico, 8/10/22]
James Comer’s Oversight Committee Has Always Been Packed With MAGA Loyalists. Comer has been playing to the most extreme part of the Republican base, allowing some of the most pro-Trump, radical Republicans onto his committee. Extremists like Rep. Greene, Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ)—who have shared QAnon conspiracy theories and spoken at white nationalist conferences—are key members on the committee. Comer has committed to following the Trump playbook: divisive and politically motivated attacks on President Biden, his family, and his administration at any cost, all to chase the radical agenda of his MAGA allies.