So where’s the bribe, James Comer?

[robosmith]

So where’s the bribe, James Comer?

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It has now been more than three months since House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) issued a release in which they accused President Biden of having been allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national.

That allegation was based on an FBI interview of an informant who had spoken with Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. If validated, it would mark not only a significant legal violation on the part of Biden, but the first time that Comer’s breathless efforts to tie Biden to foreign payments was actually demonstrated.

It was not validated. Comer and Grassley — who were already familiar with an FBI form detailing the contents of the interview — spent a few weeks demanding that the FBI release the interview to the public. The FBI, concerned both about putting the informant at risk and about making public unsubstantiated claims, decided to offer a redacted version of the memo for legislators to see. Comer and Grassley then started complaining about the redactions as they demanded more people be able to see the interview. Eventually, Grassley just went ahead and released a lightly redacted version on social media.

The idea that Biden (and his son Hunter Biden, who served on Burisma’s board) had been bribed took hold as an article of faith on the right. Fox News has mentioned bribe or bribery in the context of Biden more than 1,100 times since the allegation was first made — despite the lack of evidence beyond that FBI interview document and despite the erosion of the credibility of the allegation in at least two ways. Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer testified under penalty of perjury that Joe Biden wasn’t involved in his son’s business. Meanwhile, an old conversation between Zlochevsky and an ally of former president Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani was unearthed in which Zlochevsky denied having any contact with or receiving any assistance from Joe Biden.

On Wednesday, Comer released a new assessment of payments made to Hunter Biden, Archer and others while Biden and Archer were in business together. In testimony given to the Oversight Committee last week, Archer explained that their work centered on raising money and making connections in Washington, D.C. — but that while Hunter Biden encouraged people to think that he was bringing his father’s clout into play, Joe Biden was not actually engaged in their work. The new articulation of the money that was paid to Biden and Archer reflects that; NONE of the $20 million that Comer claims went to the Biden family and their business associates — an intentionally loose description of the recipients — was shown to have gone to Joe Biden.

That’s unquestionably an ongoing challenge for Comer’s efforts to impugn President Biden with his son’s business activity. In the abstract, anyway; Comer’s ideological allies are eager to collapse Hunter Biden’s income (and even Archer’s) into a broader pool of money to the Bidens in which Joe Biden is somehow implicated. But the lack of payments made to the president is even more problematic for the Comer-Grassley claim about bribes. After three months, a period that clearly included more assessments of income received by Hunter Biden (though a lot of the $20 million was already reported), there’s not a whiff of the alleged $5 million paid to Joe Biden by Zlochevsky. It’s less than a phantom.

Comer’s team tried to dig up this bribe that they have convinced their allies exists, without luck. So he issues a news release about the Biden family and suggests that bribery claims don’t need actual proof and prepares for his next Sean Hannity interview. 

So when they have no proof, any need for it magically disappears. VERY CORRUPT.
 

[robosmith]

Democrats Push to Subpoena Jared Kushner’s Saudi-Backed Investment Firm

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House Oversight Democrats are calling on committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) to use his subpoena power to investigate the foreign business dealings of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — an investigation Comer has been personally stalling for more than a year.

Since Republicans gained control of the House in 2022, Comer has focused the bulk of the Oversight Committee’s work on a sprawling probe into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

But earlier this month, Comer himself acknowledged that Kushner had ‘crossed the line of ethics’ in his foreign business dealings, a statement Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is looking to capitalize on.