James Comer accuses White House of intimidation regarding Biden family business dealings
Ryan King
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A top Republican accused the White House of “intimidating” players with knowledge of the Biden family’s overseas business dealings.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) urged the “FBI work with us” as his panel struggles to get more information out of those individuals who know about the family’s dealings with Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC, eastern Europe, and more.
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“Nine of the 10 people that we’ve identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens — they’re one of three things: they’re either currently in court, they’re currently in jail, or they’re currently missing,” Comer told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
“Honestly, they fear for their lives. Not only are the Biden lawyers and the Biden White House intimidating them, the media is trying to intimidate and discredit them,” he added.
Comer declined to divulge who specifically in the White House was allegedly intimidating the people in question.
“I do know. We’re saving that for a later time,” Comer said. “When I issue a subpoena to a bank or to an individual, the second I issue that, Jamie Raskin gets that … my biggest problem with the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee is they’re acting as a criminal defense attorney.”
Democrats have accused Comer of making bold claims about alleged Biden family influence peddling but then failing to back it up.
“Oddly, he has been promising then failing to deliver … for weeks, raising questions about his shoot-first, figure-it-out-later approach to what is clearly an evidence-free, politically-motivated ‘investigation,'” White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams said last week.
Comer also said that his panel is still on the lookout for a key informant for his investigation. The Kentucky congressman previously subpoenaed the FBI for an informant file that accused Biden of accepting bribes as vice president. The bureau raised concerns over that demand in response, with a spokesperson noting it was likely “unverified reporting by a confidential human source.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant. We’re hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible. And all we’re asking the FBI with respect to the form 1023 is, ‘what did you do to investigate this allegation,’ and they send us back a very patronizing letter,” Comer explained.
“This is a pattern of behavior by the FBI that would suggest there’s been a cover-up for many years with respect to the Biden influence peddling,” Comer continued.
Republicans have claimed a whistleblower tip revealed the existence of the informant and a document with additional information about the allegations.
When pressed about how such a critical informant could be missing, Comer underscored the nature of the intelligence business.
“We’re hopeful that we could find the informant. Remember, these informants are kind of in the spy business, so they don’t make a habit of being seen a lot or being high profile or anything like that,” he said. “It alleges that Joe Biden, when he was vice president, was involved in a quid pro quo with a foreign country in exchange for foreign aid. This is a very serious accusation.”
“All the FBI has to do is say, ‘Yeah, we looked into it, and it wasn’t a credible informant.’ But they won’t answer our questions,” he continued.
He warned that if the FBI does not cooperate, “we’re gonna end up in court.” Comer conveyed confidence that Republicans will prevail if it comes to that.
Last week, Comer held a press conference to roll out a report presenting new evidence about the president’s family and their associates garnering over “$10 million” from companies belonging to foreign nationals, including while he served as vice president.
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Comer specifically alleged that the Biden family concocted a “web” of limited liability companies or LLCs as part of an effort to “hide sources of money, direct China cash, influence peddling in Romania.” He previously said that at least nine and as many as 12 Biden family members could be exposed to foreign business activity.
However, critics such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have pointed out that Comer’s report lacked direct proof of the president engaging in illegal pay-to-play type activity.