PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: May 15, 2023
Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, James Comer claimed that the Oversight Committee cannot track down a key informant in the committee’s probe into the Biden family’s business dealings. In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig said the following:
“The only thing Comer is capable of proving is that he is a complete embarrassment. Instead of taking responsibility for this sham of an investigation, he’s now blaming his failure on a missing informant, once again using innuendos to all but accuse the Bidens of some tin-foil hat nefarious behavior. The fact is that Comer built this investigation on nothing more than conspiracy theories and a thirst for revenge and the only thing he has proved is that he is all hat, no cattle.”
MSNBC Morning Joe: “And now we have lost informants. in fact, the informant that this entire charade was supposedly built on… Yeah, the hunt for the great white whale isn’t going well, is it? I mean, it’s never a good thing when you actually lose your informant. Look, you know, James Comer has been making one big promise after another you know, he has been saying we’re gonna have this big big bombshell. Well, what’s pretty obvious is he doesn’t have the bombshell. He doesn’t have the smoking gun. He doesn’t have evidence, and he’s lost his informant. I mean, this is beyond embarrassing, but this is what happens when you have an internet meme and a Fox News narrative that comes up against actual reality when people say, you know, show us the evidence, you have something, you’ve been promising us something really, really huge, something that’s going to change everything, and it just doesn’t happen. James Comer continues to be all hat no cattle when it comes to this investigation.” [VIDEO, 5/15/23]
Salon: James Comer mocked after claiming informant his “entire charade was built on” is “missing”. “Republicans have repeatedly pushed corruption allegations against the Bidens that have frustrated even Fox News hosts. “You don’t have any facts,” host Steve Doocy told Comer last week. Fox News host Maria Bartiromo pressed Comer on the evidence on Sunday. ‘You also spoke with an informant who gave you all of this information,’ she said. ‘Where is that informant today? Where are these whistleblowers?’ ‘Well, unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant,’ Comer replied… Conservative panelist Charlie Sykes sarcastically added that it is ‘never a good thing when you lose your informant.’ ‘James Comer has been making one big promise after another,’ he said. ‘He’s been saying we’re going to have this big bombshell — what’s obvious is he doesn’t have the bombshell, he doesn’t have the smoking gun, he doesn’t have evidence, and he’s lost his informant. This is beyond embarrassing.’” [Salon, 5/15/23]
Daily Beast: GOP Oversight Chair Says He’s Lost Track of His Biden Corruption Informant. “On Wednesday, Comer—the chairman of the House Oversight Committee—held a much-hyped press conference in which he promised to expose the preliminary findings of four months’ worth of scrutiny into the Biden family’s business dealings. Publicized as a ‘judgment day’ for President Joe Biden, the conference ultimately proved anticlimactic, largely consisting of Comer throwing around vague, unsubstantiated accusations and failing to link the president to any of his relatives’ alleged ‘influence peddling.’ But on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, Comer offered up what appeared to be a partial excuse: The probe’s primary informant had flown the coop. ‘Well, unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant,’ the Kentucky representative told host Maria Bartiromo… Bartiromo is one of the few voices—even at Fox—willing to take Comer’s claims at face value. On Thursday, her colleague Steve Doocey interviewed the Kentuckian with considerable skepticism. ‘Your party, the Republican investigators, say that that’s proof of influence peddling by Hunter and James [Biden], but that’s just your suggestion,’ Doocey said. ‘You don’t actually have any facts to that point. You’ve got some circumstantial evidence.’ ‘Of all those names,’ he added, ‘the one person who didn’t profit—there’s no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally.’” [Daily Beast, 5/15/23]
Raw Story: ‘We can’t track down the informant’: James Comer says he lost top witness in Biden investigation. “Rep. James Comer (R-KY) revealed on Sunday that Republicans had lost track of a top witness in the investigation of President Joe Biden and his family. During an interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked Comer about evidence he had of Biden’s alleged corruption. ‘You have spoken with whistleblowers,’ she noted. ‘You also spoke with an informant who gave you all of this information. Where is that informant today? Where are these whistleblowers?’’Well, unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant,’ Comer replied.” [Raw Story, 5/15/23]