PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: March 2, 2023
Washington, D.C. – It’s been another not so good terrible week for MAGA Cheerleader and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer. Comer attacked President Biden’s deceased son, pledged to use his powerful gavel to investigate a television provider for ending their distribution of a far-right TV channel, and whined about being held accountable. In response, Congressional Integrity Project Senior Adviser, Brad Woodhouse, released the following statement:
“James Comer continues to prove that he can’t be trusted to conduct fair and legitimate oversight. Americans already said they do not support Comer’s vendetta against President Biden and his family, but that didn’t stop him from stooping even lower and attacking President Biden’s deceased war veteran son. Comer was roundly criticized, yet has refused to apologize for his despicable attack. And he also spent his week whining about the fact that there are people out there actually holding him accountable. Comer and his MAGA allies have spent the last week – and the last almost two months in power – repeatedly showing they are more focused on political stunts than finding solutions to the real issues Americans care about.”
Daily Beast: House Oversight Chair Laments That Joe Biden’s Dead Son Was Never Prosecuted. “House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer invoked the late son of President Joe Biden on Tuesday, lamenting that Beau Biden was never prosecuted over an investigation into illegal contributions involving his father’s 2008 presidential campaign. When he’s not busy threatening pay-TV providers for not carrying his favorite right-wing channels, or warning that Chinese spy balloons may drop ‘bioweapons’ on the U.S., Comer has devoted much of his energy to launching an investigation into presidential son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.” [Daily Beast, 2/28/23]
Washington Post: White House slams ‘despicable’ suggestion Beau Biden should have been indicted. “Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) criticized a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for not prosecuting President Biden’s late son when he was still alive, a notion the White House slammed as ‘despicable.’ […] When asked Wednesday about Comer’s comments, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield called it ‘appalling. ‘It’s despicable. And frankly it says quite a lot — none of it good — about Jim Comer,’ Bedingfield said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ ‘The president is going to continue to focus on moving forward his agenda … I think for the American people to hear something like that from Congressman Comer, they’ll assess what that says about him. I would say what that says about him is pretty despicable.’” [Washington Post, 3/1/23]
Daily Mail: White House tears into Republican Rep. James Comer’s ‘ugly’ and ‘despicable’ claims that Biden’s dead son Beau should have been indicted in connection to Delaware campaign finance case. “The White House on Wednesday tore into Republican Rep. James Comer’s ‘ugly’ and ‘despicable’ claims that President Joe Biden’s dead son Beau should have been indicted alongside a Delaware man who violated campaign finance laws. Comer, who chairs the powerful House Oversight Committee, appeared on a podcast Monday with conservative commentator Lou Dobbs. […] ‘This U.S. attorney … had an opportunity to go after the Bidens years ago. In fact, it was Beau Biden, the president’s other son, that was involved in some campaign donations from a person that got indicted as well,’ Comer told Dobbs. ‘But, you know, nothing ever happened. So I don’t know much about this U.S. attorney other than he’s had an opportunity to investigate the Bidens before and he chose not to.’” [Daily Mail, 3/1/23]
MSNBC: GOP’s Comer preoccupied with fate of conservative media outlet. “I don’t think Comer was trying to make news with these comments, but it’s worth pausing to appreciate what he told viewers: The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who appears to have quite a few official duties, hasn’t just pried himself away from his many Hunter Biden conspiracy theories, he’s also been ‘in constant communication’ with telecommunications executives over a licensing fee dispute between two private parties. None of this has anything to do with government, taxpayer money, or any public agency. But the Oversight Committee chair, by his own admission, is nevertheless doing ‘everything’ in his ability to intervene — and his ‘passionate’ GOP colleagues are prepared to put aside their free-market principles and hold hearings, despite the fact that there isn’t anything specific for them to oversee. How important are conservative media outlets to the contemporary Republican Party? Comer is helping answer the question in an emphatic way.” [MSNBC, 2/27/23]
James Comer Stooped To Using Childish Insults Against the White House. During an interview with right-wing podcaster Lou Dobbs, Comer stated: “For whatever reason, they won’t respond to any of our requests. They continue to have their attack dogs bark every day from the White Hou— that Ian Sams, the president’s little weenie guy, comes out every day and attacks me.” [The Great America Show with Lou Dobbs, 2/27/23]
James Comer: “I know the White House is funding an outside group to attack me and Jim Jordan everyday for having the audacity to investigate this White House. They have outside groups—Congressional Integrity Project or whatever—that’s being funded. They have a new spokesperson for the White House, that Ian Sams that attacks me on Twitter everyday…we don’t know who’s funding the Congressional Integrity Project, but with respect to what we’ve seen with the Twitter Files […] They were using social media to do what the government isn’t supposed to do.” [The Charlie Kirk Show, 3/1/23]