House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker as a “liar” and “Smurf” during a contentious hearing Tuesday after Comer’s family finances came under scrutiny.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) provoked Comer (R-Ky.) by demanding he publicly explain a financial transaction involving his brother.
“You also do business with your brother with possible loans. And so, given that you framed and manipulated that with the American people, that Joe Biden did something wrong when he was not in office, I would just like to know if he would like to use some of my time,” Moskowitz said. .
Comer (R-Ky.) enthusiastically agreed, suggesting that characterizing a $218,000 payment he made to his brother Chad as a “loan” is “completely false.”
“I have never lent my brother a cent,” Comer explained. “My father, who was a dentist, had some farmland. He died and my brother couldn’t afford it. He wanted to sell it but he wanted to keep it in the family. “So I bought it for my brother.”
The transaction was reported last week by The Daily Beast, in an article with the headline: “James Comer, like Joe Biden, also paid his brother $200,000.”
James Comer was eager to explain his family dealings after media reports drew attention to it.C-SPAN
The Kentucky Republican questioned the characterization of his outside company “Farm Team Properties, LLC” as a “shell company.”
“It was an LLC, they are so financially illiterate that [they] Think that because something says ‘LLC’ it is a shell company. This company… has properties. “It manages more than a thousand acres of land,” Comer highlighted.
As Comer delved into the details, Moskowitz tried to make up for his time, but the president wasn’t having it.
The chairman of the Oversight Committee called Jared Moskowitz a smurf. ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
“No, I’m not going to give you your time back. We can stop the clock,” Comer said. “You look like a Smurf here running around with all this stuff.”
The duo then proceeded to yell at each other, with Moskowitz accusing Comer of holding a different standard for the president than his own.
“You go on Fox News and say loans and deals are a way to avoid taxes? We don’t know if that’s what you’re doing or not,” Moskowitz said.
Jared Moskowitz accused James Comer of hypocrisy and peddling insinuations about the Biden family’s dealings.Getty Images
“Mr. President, it seems like this has gotten under your skin,” he added. “Perhaps we should sit down for a statement.”
Comer then agreed that he would be willing to testify before Hunter Biden and review “our LLCs.”
The president of Supervision stressed that he had simply bought a piece of land, but that he “did not receive telegrams from Romania or China.”
The exchange between Moskowitz and Comer occurred during a hearing on the General Services Administration.
During that hearing, Comer asked the GSA inspector general to investigate allegations of political interference in the selection of the next FBI headquarters.
Last week, Comer, who is leading the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden, rejected subpoenas for testimony from first son Hunter Biden, first brother James Biden and other associates of the president’s family.
In recent weeks, Comer has drawn attention to two payments to Joe Biden from his brother James Biden, citing subpoenaed bank records.
President Biden is currently facing an impeachment investigation over his family’s businesses.AP
Both transfers were described on the checks as loan payments, but Comer expressed doubt, saying that even if they were loans, they show that the president directly benefited from his family’s overseas ventures.
The first payment was $40,000 in September 2017 and the second was $200,000 in March 2018.
Comer claimed the $40,000 was “laundered” funds from the now-defunct Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy, which paid at least $6.1 million to Hunter and James Biden in 2017 and 2018, most of it after Hunter threatened his father’s wrath in July 2017, writing to an associate based in China that he was “sitting here with my father” and “we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.”
Joe Biden was at one point slated for a 10% cut from a joint venture with CEFC, according to a May 2017 email from his son’s business partner, James Gilliar, who referred to the elder Biden as the “big guy.” .
House Republicans connect the dots with China by pointing out that Hunter Biden transferred money from Chinese companies to his Owasco firm in August 2017, then sent about $150,000 of that amount to Lion Hall Group, which James controls. Biden. Later that month, James Biden’s wife Sara withdrew $50,000 from Lion Hall Group to the couple’s checking account.
The president’s allies have disputed that, noting that a company of his wired $40,000 to James and Sara Biden on July 28, 2017 as a loan.
As for the $200,000, Comer noted that James Biden transferred the money to Joe Biden on the same day James received an identical amount ($200,000) from Americore Health.
A court filing filed last year by Americore Health’s bankruptcy trustee said James Biden “obtained” the funds “based on representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment from Middle East based on its political connections.”
Comer has said publicly that he believes President Biden should be impeached, but noted that the decision will ultimately be up to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
President Biden and the White House have downplayed allegations of wrongdoing and accused Comer of partisanship.
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