Oh no! James Comer, Jim Jordan, and House Republicans were caught peddling baseless conspiracy theories…again! Remember when Comer threatened (then caved) to hold the FBI Director in contempt of congress if the director didn’t give him an FD-1023 form that contained unsubstantiated claims? We do. Now it turns out that not only did the “informant” in that form allegedly make up the bribery allegations, but he also admitted that Russian intelligence officials were involved in passing a story about the president’s son, and that he has had “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with foreign intelligence officials. Then, Rep. Ken Buck said the FBI warned House Republicans that the credibility of the witness statement was unknown, but Comer and Jordan and others went ahead and told the country it was credible information anyway. Comer and Jordan seem to be in quite a bit of trouble, and they know it because they’ve deleted mentions of the FD-1023 form from their letters and website. They thought we wouldn’t notice, but we did. Last weekend, Comer also acknowledged that his entire “investigation” is failure theater when he admitted that House Republicans don’t have the votes. Then, Rep. Don Bacon told Politico that he knows of about 20 Republicans who are opposed to impeaching President Biden. Finally, yet another witness, this time President Biden’s brother, told House Republicans that the president had no involvement with his business deals. Time to call it quits chairmen, this embarrassing circus show has gone on long enough.
James Comer’s Credibility Problem
CNN: “A Step-By-Step Guide To How One Debunked Story Fueled Republicans’ Biden Impeachment Effort”
AN FBI INFORMANT WHO PROSECUTORS SAID MADE UP FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN ADMITTED RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS WERE INVOLVED IN PASSING A STORY ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN
New Republic: “Republicans’ Star Hunter Biden Witness Is An Epic Disaster”
- The FBI Informant Who Made Up Bribery Allegations Against President Biden, Told Law Enforcement That “Officials Associated With Russian Intelligence Were Involved In Passing A Story About” Hunter Biden. “Last week, we learned that it was all made up. ‘The Defendant’s story to the FBI was a fabrication,’ prosecutors alleged in an indictment of Smirnov. He had ‘transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against’ Biden. But yesterday we learned something more unsettling: Smirnov’s story may have been planted by a Russian intelligence source. In a court filing, federal prosecutors detailed Smirnov’s extensive contacts with Russian officials over the course of many years and alleged that he made a shocking admission during his arrest last week. ‘During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about’ Hunter Biden. They did not specify what the story was or clarify whether Smirnov claimed that the Biden family bribery lie was fed to him by one of his many Russian contacts.” [Politico, Playbook, 2/21/24]
- Former FBI Informant Told Prosecutors He Had “Extensive And Extremely Recent” Contacts With Foreign Intelligence Officials And Prosecutors Said He Had Been “Actively Peddling New Lies That Could Impact U.S. Elections.” “The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine told investigators after his arrest that Russian intelligence officials were involved in passing information to him about Hunter Biden, prosecutors said Tuesday in a new court filing, noting that the information was false. Prosecutors also said Alexander Smirnov has been ‘actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections’ after meeting with Russian spies late last year and that the fallout from his previous false bribery accusations about the Bidens ‘continue[s] to be felt to this day.’ Smirnov claims to have ‘extensive and extremely recent’ contacts with foreign intelligence officials, prosecutors said in the filing. They said he previously told the FBI that he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad.” [CNN, 2/20/24]
New York Times: “Ex-Informant Accused Of Lying About Bidens Said He Had Russian Contacts”
Washington Post: “Another GOP Biden ‘Informant.’ Another Indictment And Link To Russia.”
NPR: “Ex-FBI Source Charged With Biden Lies Is Tied To Russian Intelligence, Prosecutors Say”
Axios: “DOJ: FBI Informant Said Russian Intelligence Involved In Hunter Biden Story”
ABC News: “Hunter Biden Informant Charged With Lying Had High-Level Russian Contacts: Documents”
New Republic: “The Hilarious Collapse Of A Republican Smear Job”
Raw Story: “‘We Can Just Tell This Guy Whatever’: How Russian Spies Fed Lies Directly To GOP Lawmakers”
Ken Buck Put His Republican Colleagues On Blast For Peddling Claims They Were Warned Had Not Been Corroborated
New Republic: “House Republican Levels Massive Allegation Against Comer And Jordan”
- Ken Buck Said Republicans Were Warned That The Credibility Of Statements Made By The FBI Informant Were Unknown, But His Republican Colleagues Told The Public It Was Credible Anyway. KEN BUCK: “We were warned at the time that we received the document outlining this witness’s testimony. We were warned that the credibility of this statement was not known, and yet, people, my colleagues went out and talked to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden’s, at the time Vice President Biden’s complicity in receiving bribes. It appears to absolutely be false.” […] CNN: “So James Comer, Jim Jordan, they knew that this was not corroborated information, yet they still went public with it, talked about it on television, used it to fuel these investigations, regardless?” BUCK: “That’s what it appears.” [CNN, 2/22/24] (video)
Salon: “‘Humiliation’: Fox Host Buries GOP As Republican Admits ‘We Were Warned’ About Indicted Informant”
Huffington Post: “DOJ Warned Republicans About Publicizing Unverified Report From FBI Informant”
Jim Jordan & James Comer Dig Themselves A Bigger Hole
Daily Beast: “James Comer Changes His Tune On Discredited Biden Probe Witness”
Newsweek: “James Comer Faces Potential Investigation Over Lying FBI Source”
Newsweek: “James Comer Resignation Calls Grow After Russian Intel Bombshell”
CNN (Video): “A Defiant Jim Jordan Doubles Down On Allegations Against The Bidens”
MSNBC: “Jim Jordan Pretends His Anti-Biden Case Hasn’t Already Collapsed”
Daily Beast: “CNN’s Manu Raju Corners A Sputtering Jim Jordan Over Discredited FBI Informant”
New Republic: “Jim Jordan Spirals When Asked About Losing His Star Biden Witness”
Newsweek: “Jim Jordan Is In Deep Trouble”
Newsweek: “Jim Jordan Clip Resurfaces After Ex-FBI Informant’s Russia Link Emerges”
Raw Story: “Jordan And Comer ‘Either Duped By Kremlin-Linked Informant Or They Were In On It’: Lawyer”
Raw Story: “‘It’s Not True!’ Jim Jordan Fact-Checked On Live TV As He Spreads Hunter Biden Claims”
Mediaite: “‘It’s Not True!’ CNN’s Manu Raju Confronts A Defiant Jim Jordan Over Debunked Biden Claims”
James Comer And Jim Jordan Are Not The Only Republicans Who Peddled False Claims
Washington Post: “10 Republicans Who Treated The Biden Bribery Claim Like Gospel”
HOUSE REPUBLICANS KNOW THEY’RE IN TROUBLE BECAUSE THEY’VE DELETED THE INFORMATION FROM THEIR MATERIALS
Huffington Post: “Republicans Delete Reference To FBI Informant From Impeachment Interview Request Letter”
Meidas Touch: “House GOP Quietly Deletes Russian Disinformation From Impeachment Website”
Raw Story: “Republicans Rush To Delete Any Reference To Biden Impeachment Informant Accused Of Lying”
James Comer Knows His Investigation Is Nothing But A Farce
Spectrum News: “Rep. James Comer: Biden Impeachment Vote May Not Happen”
- James Comer Said The “Math Keeps Getting Worse” On Whether He Had Enough Votes For His Baseless Impeachment Effort. “Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee who is leading the Republican effort to investigate President Joe Biden, says the House may not hold an impeachment vote after all. Comer told Spectrum News that the ‘math keeps getting worse’ for Republicans, whose razor-thin majority in the House got even tighter after losing a Republican-held New York congressional seat earlier this week.” [Spectrum News, 2/15/24]
- James Comer On His Impeachment Inquiry: “The Accountability, I Hope Will Come This Year, But It May Come Next Year With A New President, A New Attorney General.” “Comer expects the committee will soon have a report, but no matter what happens in the House, he concedes the Senate won’t convict. ‘The accountability, I hope will come this year, but it may come next year with a new president, a new attorney general,’ said Comer. ‘At the end of the day, my goal is to get the truth out there and hold people accountable for wrongdoing. That may encompass impeachment. If it doesn’t, that’s fine with me.’” [Spectrum News, 2/15/24]
Rolling Stone: “Republicans Are Scrambling To Salvage Their Doomed Biden Impeachment Push”
Politico: “Biden Impeachment Effort On The Brink Of Collapse”
- Don Bacon Said There Were About 20 Republicans Who Are Opposed To Impeaching President Biden. “Even before those recent developments, the numbers were lining up against House Republicans, who can only afford to lose two votes on the floor after Democrats won a special election in New York. Falling short on a Biden impeachment would be yet another embarrassing bullet point for a conference that struggles to square the ambitious demands of its right flank with the reality of a thin majority. ‘I happen to know there are like 20 Republicans who are not in favor of a Biden impeachment. Mainly because it smells bad what he did, it looks bad, but when you ask them what crime is committed — they can’t tell you,’ said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a vulnerable purple-district incumbent who’d raised doubts about impeaching Mayorkas but eventually backed that effort.” [Politico, 2/23/24]
James Biden Told House Republicans That President Biden Was Not Involved In His Business Deals
Associated Press: “James Biden Tells GOP Lawmakers That Joe Biden Had No Involvement In The Family’s Business Dealings”
New York Times: “James Biden Tells Republicans His Brother Was Not Involved In Business Deals”
Reuters: “Biden’s Brother Tells Impeachment Probe He Kept Family And Business Separate”
Washington Post: “James Biden Says President Biden Had No Involvement In His Business Deals”
Politico: “James Biden In Impeachment Testimony Denies His Brother Was Involved In His Business Deals”
The Hill: “James Biden Testifies Brother Had No ‘Direct Or Indirect Financial Interest’ In Business Ventures”