Recent reporting revealed that Rep. #JamesComer has been in talks with at least one publisher regarding a book on his #impeachmentInquiry into #PresidentBiden. #Comer and his #Republican colleagues have spent the past 15 months relentlessly investigating the president and his family, and failed to find any evidence of wrongdoing by President #Biden, let alone anything impeachable.
Jordan & Comer will sue & under McGahn they'll be held up for maybe several yrs
Scott MacFarlane:
NEW: DOJ DECLINES to turn over audio of Spec Couns Hur's interview w/ Pres Biden to House Oversight Committee Republicans
In letter to Committee, DOJ says, "The Committees’ interests may not be in receiving info in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files.."
This is best video I've seen in a while. Rep. #JaredMoskowitz just called #JamesComer's bluff in humiliating fashion. Moskowitz made a motion to impeach #PresidentBiden during today's bogus #impeachmentHearing knowing that #Comer was completely unprepared to do what he claims is his goal. In response to the motion, Comer sat in stunned silence with a look of absolute befuddlement on his dumb face. Oh, and he refused to second the motion. 🤣
'The Republicans—and all their comrades at Fox and other right-wing media outlets that trumpeted Smirnov’s allegation against the Bidens—have been useful idiots for Moscow. The Smirnov case has generated plenty of headlines and has caused the leading Republican impeachers—namely, Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan—to look foolish.'
The #Smirnov case has generated plenty of headlines and has caused the leading Republican impeachers—namely, Reps. James #Comer and Jim #Jordan—to look foolish.
But it’s important to view the Smirnov affair in this wider context: Republicans and the MAGA right have eagerly participated in Kremlin scheming to undermine Biden
This Moscow plot has been a matter of public record for years. In February 2020, intelligence officials briefed House lawmakers that Moscow was interfering in the election to assist Trump’s reelection.
(This briefing, of course, angered Trump, who had refused to acknowledge that a covert program authorized by Russian leader Vladimir Putin helped him win the White House four years earlier, and he replaced the acting director of national intelligence.)
Months later, William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, issued a statement declaring that Russia “is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden…Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television.”
That was related to #Giuliani’s endeavor.
The NCSC statement noted that a pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andriy #Derkach, the son of a former KGB official, was “spreading claims about corruption…to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party.”
In September 2020, Derkach was sanctioned by Trump’s Treasury Department, which called him “an active Russian agent for over a decade” and declared he was one of a group of “Russia-linked election interference actors.”
Treasury said Derkach had maintained “close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services” and had “directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.”
Trump’s own Treasury secretary, Steve #Mnuchin, remarked, “Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world.”
And who was working with Derkach to spread the false story that Joe Biden had blocked an investigation of Burisma? #Giuliani.
At one point, Derkach staged press conferences in Kyiv and played secretly recorded tapes of Biden speaking by phone with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Derkach insisted the recordings supported Giuliani’s allegations about Biden.
Yet the tapes revealed no misconduct. This was a disinformation stunt.
Ukrainians critical of Russia speculated that the tapes originated with Russian intelligence.
Giuliani never expressed shame for hooking up with a Russian agent. He publicly admitted he was in touch with Derkach and called him “very helpful.” He said that he and Derkach had spoken about Ukraine many times.
The bottom line: According to Trump administration officials, the Biden-Burisma allegations were in part (if not wholly) the work of Russian operatives.
Yet Trump, the MAGA right, and their media allies have been beating this drum for years, and once the GOP won back the House in 2022, it became impeachment fodder.
Then Comer, Jordan, and the rest of their crew embraced Smirnov’s charges, even though they were not substantiated and even though they were in sync with a known Russian disinformation plot that targeted Biden to aid Trump.
Moreover, it was highly suspicious that Smirnov shared his allegations with his FBI handler in June 2020
—after not mentioning them for years
—just when Giuliani and other Trumpers were striving to tar Joe Biden with this false tale.
But none of that matters for the Party of Trump and its leader.
They seem unconcerned about collaborating—colluding?—with a Kremlin operation.
After all, it worked for Trump in 2016, and since then he and his cult have demonstrated no reluctance to be exploited by Russia or to exploit Russian disinformation, even as Putin wages a horrendous war in Ukraine and intensifies his repressive and murderous reign at home.
The Smirnov case—of which there is much more to learn—shows not only that Trump and the GOP are Putin dupes;
they are willing dupes.
"A thumb drive handed by a foreign national to an aide traveling with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019 suggests that efforts by Russia-linked actors to influence the 2020 US presidential election with Hunter Biden disinformation began earlier and were broader in scope than has previously been reported."
"Comer spent months talking up the credibility of the Biden bribery evidence only to have the source of the claim arrested for lying to the FBI about the Biden bribery scheme. The Russian source claimed that he got his information about Biden bribery from Russian intelligence officers.
At best Comer was duped by Russia. At worst, Comer knowingly spread and laundered Russian misinformation."
Now
about the fake #MAGA#whistleblower
if
MAGA knew it was a #Russian Kompromat and still used the false information...
It's... SERIOUS
Really serious
and there should be heavy legal consequences
for both #Jordan and #Comer.
'Despite the apparent holes in Smirnov’s story, James Comer and Jim Jordan either failed to vet it and fell for it hook, line, and sinker, or actively took part in something more nefarious. Whether their actions were merely reckless or malevolent, it’s clear that Russia’s unceasing threat to democracy is more active than ever.'
"Hunter Biden's lawyers argued that the 'rabbit hole of lies' allegedly told by the indicted FBI informant have infected the investigation into the president's son..."
Central banks should be fighting the #climate crisis – here’s why
"Our recent research points out that their policies have been slowing down – rather than speeding up – transformative climate action. The problem is these banks focus on #FinancialStability in the near term, which means propping up a status quo which promotes further climate instability. And that means they are making things more unstable in the long term."
@CelloMomOnCars Our central bank in #Canada could certainly do this. The #COMER lawsuit a few years back was aimed at using this power "for good" instead of simply providing leverage to the big banks as seems to be the #neoliberal way. In past decades it was used eg to build the St. Lawrence Seaway, Trans Canada highway as they outline in their What's Next post. Using it to directly fund climate action in the same way is certainly possible. https://comer.org/news/whats-next-comer/#cdnpoli
Let me get this straight. You welcomed nude photos of #HunterBiden in a public hearing but you won’t welcome the testimony of Hunter Biden in a public hearing. If Hunter testified in the nude, would you then let him appear for a public hearing? — Rep. Daniel Goldman #quotes#quote#Comer#GOP
"This morning the Associated Press ran a story by national political reporter Brian Slodysko titled 'The Republican leading the probe of Hunter Biden has his own shell company and complicated friends.'"
"It told the story of how Representative James Comer (R-KY), the chair of the House Oversight Committee, has a financial history that looks a great deal like that of which he accuses the Bidens, including a shell company that appears to ethics experts to have problematic connections to a campaign donor."
The AP story Richardson is discussing is linked below.
"The Associated Press is reporting that James Comer, Chair of the House Oversight Committee (which is running the Biden impeachment inquiry) is using shell companies to conceal his joint ownership of a six-acre parcel in Kentucky. Why? The reason is not clear, but Comer co-owns the land with a campaign donor. Comer did not list the co-ownership in congressional financial disclosure forms."
…But it’s not just #Nehls….
Back in May, House Oversight…Chair James #Comer (R) made a comment remarkably similar…. He cited #Trump’s increasingly good poll numbers against #Biden & said…, “the media is looking around, scratching their head, & they’re realizing that the American people are keeping up w/our investigation.”
Judiciary Cmte Chair #JimJordan (R) last year pitched the investigations expressly as an attempt to #influence voters’ 2024 choices: “That will help frame up the 2024 race….”
This is #Comer's most absurd #allegation yet. #HunterBiden borrowed a little over $4000 from his dad to buy a #truck when his credit was bad. He repaid the #loan with three $1,380 payments from one of his business accounts.
Comer claims this wasn't a loan, but actually payment for #Chinese#influencePeddling. What sort of big influence peddling operation does he believe took place for $4000? Oh, and #Biden wasn't even in elected office at the time, so... 🤷♂️
"[James] #Comer and his own brother have engaged in land swaps ... involving $200,000, as well as a shell company...Comer channeled extra money to his brother, seemingly from nothing. ...land swaps ...new applications for special tax breaks, [KY] state records show....dealings of a family company that appears to have never existed on paper. ...a conflict of interest [that's] been going on for decades." Courtesy of MSNBC https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/democrats-pounce-report-james-comers-family-loan-rcna124456?cid
"House Republicans continue to sniff and subpoena dick pics even as a government shut down grows closer. …
not only has Comer not found anything against the Bidens. He is using his charade against the Bidens to hide his own corruption and that of the Trump’s.
And meanwhile, as Comer continues to waste taxpayer dollars subpoenaing dick pics, Republicans still can’t fund government."