House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer clearly didn’t make a resolution to repair his shambles this year because they followed him into 2024. First, the Daily Beast reported that Comer’s Farm Team Properties LLC just keeps getting shadier and shadier. It turns out, the LLC has been administratively dissolved twice in the state of Kentucky, including as recently as 2022 and wasn’t recently reinstated until December 2023. They reported that the LLC is listed as the owner of two properties in Monroe County, but Comer has been saying it holds five properties. Daily Beast also reported that Comer may have failed to include some things on his personal financial disclosure, like mortgages and a land sale. To top it all off, Daily Beast also found another campaign donor who Comer sold land to in 2015.
Then, Comer admitted (again) in an interview with Maria Bartiromo what we’ve known during his entire investigation – he has no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. Asked if he had proof that President Biden committed a crime, Comer responded “I think so.” *major side eye* Finally, Comer proceeded to run away from his own witness who was sitting right in front of him. During a contempt of congress hearing that devolved into utter and complete chaos, Comer refused to allow Hunter Biden to testify even though he was sitting right in front of him willing to testify.
It’s a new year, but House Republicans are still playing partisan political games.
James Comer’s LLC Just Keeps Getting Shadier
DAILY BEAST: REP. JAMES COMER’S BUSINESS BOOKS AND RECORDS ARE “OPAQUE AT BEST – AND IMPROPER AT WORST”
Daily Beast: “Oversight Chairman James Comer’s ‘Legitimate’ Shell Company Was Shut Down—Twice”
Daily Beast Reported That Rep. James Comer’s Business Books And Records Are “Opaque At Best – And Improper At Worst.” “As Rep. James Comer (R-KY) plows ahead with his sensationalized impeachment inquiry premised on Hunter Biden’s business dealings, the Oversight Chairman has alleged that Biden’s opaque financial operations merit investigation, and that people who own corporations have a ‘responsibility’ to maintain proper ‘books and records.’ But a review of dozens of tax, real estate, and business filings in Kentucky and Tennessee indicate that Comer’s own personal ‘books and records’ are opaque at best—and improper at worst.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
JAMES COMER’S LLC HAD BEEN DISSOLVED TWICE, ONCE FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR
Rep. James Comer’s Business, Farm Team Properties LLC, Had Been Dissolved Twice For Failure To File Annual Reports In 2020 And 2022. “Those records include the dealings of Comer’s shell company, Farm Team Properties LLC, which the state of Kentucky has dissolved twice for failure to file annual reports—first in 2020, then again in 2022.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
- James Comer And His Wife Allowed The October 2022 Dissolution Of Farm Team Properties LLC To Languish For More Than A Year, Only Reinstating The Entity In December 2023. “While Comer and his wife rectified the first dissolution within a few weeks, they allowed the October 2022 dissolution to languish for more than a year, only reinstating the entity last month, after The Daily Beast first reported on the company and flagged the dissolution on social media. It’s not clear from Comer’s filings whether Farm Team Properties ceased business activity for those 14 months.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
Rep. James Comer Said That Farm Team Properties Not Only Holds Properties But Manages And Leases Them And That His LLC Generates “Lots Of Revenue.” “But in response to questions about the shell company last month, Comer told Fox Business that Farm Team Properties not only holds properties, it also ‘manages’ them, ‘leases hunting on my 1,600 acres of farmland,’ and generates ‘lots of revenue, legitimate revenue.’ (The previous month, he denied having an LLC during a committee hearing.)” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
- The Kentucky Department Of Revenue Said A Company In Administrative Dissolution May Not Legally Conduct Business In The State. “Kentucky law states that an administratively dissolved business ‘continues its existence but shall not carry on any business except that necessary to wind up and liquidate its business and affairs.’ An official with the Kentucky Department of Revenue told The Daily Beast that a company in administrative dissolution may not legally conduct business in the state—such as executing deals and leases, securing loans, or collecting rent as an LLC.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
- Starting From 2017, Rep. James Comer Has Listed On His Personal Financial Disclosure That He Earns No Income From Farm Team Properties. “On personal financial disclosures starting from 2017—the year Comer’s wife created Farm Team Properties—and continuing through his most recent statement covering 2022, Comer has listed the income from the company as ‘none.’ But after recent reports from The Daily Beast and the Associated Press raised questions about the shell company, Comer has called into question whether he’s really making no money from the entity.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
JAMES COMER CAN’T SEEM TO GET HIS STORY STRAIGHT ABOUT HIS LLC
Rep. James Comer Said That Farm Team Properties Held Five Different Properties, But Monroe County Records Listed The LLC As The Owner On Only Two Properties. “Comer has also apparently publicly overstated how many properties the company holds. ‘This LLC that I have has five different properties,’ Comer told Fox Business last month. He then repeated that claim, adding, ‘This is a land speculation LLC and it has five different assets and lots of revenue, legitimate revenue.’ But Farm Team Properties is only listed as an owner on two properties in Monroe County records. The Daily Beast’s review of records in other jurisdictions where Comer owns land—Franklin County, Kentucky, and Macon and Clay counties in Tennessee—also did not turn up any Farm Team holdings.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
- James Comer’s Personal Financial Disclosure Said That Farm Team Properties’ Value Had Increased From A Maximum Of $500,000 To A Max Of $1 Million Between 2017 And 2022, But The Two Properties It Owned Were Not Assessed That High In Tax Records And Its Alleged Farming Revenue Was Invisible. “Comer’s disclosures state that FTP has increased in value, from between $250,000 and $500,000 in 2017 to between $500,000 and $1 million in 2022. However, its two properties are not assessed that high in tax records. And its alleged ‘farming’ revenue is invisible. (Notably, Comer claimed an agricultural tax break on a parcel in Tennessee last year, assessing property taxes at ‘use value’ instead of fair market value if the property generates a certain amount of agricultural income, as The Daily Beast previously reported.)” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
JAMES COMER MAY HAVE FAILED TO INCLUDE THINGS ON HIS PERSONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
Rep. James Comer Appeared To Have Not Listed A Property On His Personal Financial Disclosure That He Acquired In 2017 And Sold In February 2022, And He Did Not Report The Sale Income. “For instance, in February 2022—before the company dissolved—Farm Team Properties sold an acre of land that it co-owned with longtime Comer donor Darren Cleary, with the deed showing a price of $50,000. Comer’s disclosures don’t appear to have ever listed that property—which he acquired in 2017—and he did not report the income.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
Rep. James Comer Did Not Appear To Have Included On His Personal Financial Disclosures Mortgages He Had Taken Out On A Monroe County Property. “However, Farm Team Properties is also listed as a ‘borrower’ on a $215,000 mortgage that Comer and his wife took out on a different Monroe County property the same month they bought back the house, according to county records. Comer and his wife, however, are the only guarantors and agents on the document. That mortgage appears to have been taken out on the same property that Comer used to secure a separate $350,000 mortgage in September 2014, for a property acquired from his brother in 1998. The Comers extended that 2014 mortgage twice before satisfying it in 2019, county records show, before taking out the separate, new mortgage in December. Comer’s disclosures do not appear to reflect these mortgages, though he did report taking out a $750,000 line of credit on this same property in June 2022, extending it last year. But unlike FTP, Comer and his wife are personally listed on numerous other real estate documents in Monroe County.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
Rep. James Comer Did Not Appear To Have Included A $750,000 Commercial Real Estate Mortgage He Acquired In 2021 On His Personal Financial Disclosure. “The Comers also took out a new commercial real estate mortgage for a $750,000 promissory note, on March 12, 2021, secured by a 350-acre parcel acquired in 2003, according to Monroe County records. But Comer’s disclosures don’t seem to account for that mortgage, either. His disclosure covering the 2021 calendar year only shows one liability—a farm—which Comer has disclosed on all his federal forms dating back to 2016 as a liability first incurred in 1996. The 2021 loan is not recorded as an extension of that mortgage in Monroe County, and it is not connected to any other mortgage in county records.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
JAMES COMER SOLD A PIECE OF LAND TO ANOTHER CAMPAIGN DONOR
2015: Rep. James Comer Sold A Parcel Of Land In Macon County, TN To Corby Brown, Who Has Contributed To His Campaign. “Comer also holds more than a million dollars of land just south of the Kentucky border, most of it in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. He acquired that acreage from his father in 2012 for a mere $20, via quitclaim deeds. One parcel is currently assessed at $545,000, with the two other tracts pegged at just over $1 million combined. But Comer has also offloaded some of his Tennessee land. In 2015, he sold a Macon County parcel for $618,000, land records show. The buyer was Corby Brown, yet another campaign donor.” [Daily Beast, 1/9/24]
James Comer Says Bank Records Don’t Lie, But He Certainly Does
JAMES COMER ADMITS HE STILL HAS NO PROOF FOR HIS CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT PRESIDENT BIDEN
Washington Post (Column): “Weighing Action Against Hunter Biden, GOP Resorts To Falsehoods”
Asked If He Had Proof That President Biden Committed A Crime, James Comer Replied, “I Think So.” “Bartiromo asked Comer whether he felt he has ‘the evidence right now to prove to the American people that President Biden committed a crime?’ ‘I think so,’ Comer replied. ‘I think the American people have one question: What exactly did the Bidens do to receive the millions and millions of dollars from our enemies around the world?’” [Washington Post, Philip Bump, 1/10/24]
- Washington Post Fact Checker: “The House Oversight Committee Has Struggled To Connect President Biden To Any Nefarious Acts, So Lawmakers Have Relied A Lot On Innuendo.”
MSNBC: “Another Witness Disappoints The GOP In Anti-Biden Investigation”
PoliticsUSA: “James Comer Has Another Big Failure On Biden Impeachment”
JAMES COMER RUNS AWAY FROM HIS OWN WITNESS
Newsweek: “James Comer’s Hunter Biden Hearing Descends Into Chaos”
MSNBC: “Hunter Biden Was Literally In The Room, Volunteering To Answer Members’ Questions, While GOP Members Complained About His Reluctance To Show Up And Answer Members’ Questions.” “The underlying circumstances were inherently bizarre: Hunter Biden was literally in the room, volunteering to answer members’ questions, while GOP members complained about his reluctance to show up and answer members’ questions. It was against this backdrop that the latest Republican circus unraveled into an embarrassing mess — complete with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina referencing the president’s son’s testicles and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia needlessly promoting provocative photographs for no apparent reason.” [MSNBC, 1/11/24]
Huffington Post: “Wednesday’s Proceedings Were Emblematic Of The Investigation Into The President, Which Has Failed To Uncover Incriminating Evidence While Repeatedly Delving Into Seemingly Irrelevant Material, Such As Hunter Biden’s Second Career As An Artist And A Pickup Truck He Bought With His Father’s Help In 2018.” “The contempt hearing is an offshoot of the impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, whom Republicans have dubiously claimed participated in his son’s foreign business deals. But Wednesday’s proceedings were emblematic of the investigation into the president, which has failed to uncover incriminating evidence while repeatedly delving into seemingly irrelevant material, such as Hunter Biden’s second career as an artist and a pickup truck he bought with his father’s help in 2018.” [Huffington Post, 1/10/24]