Rep. James Comer admitted twice he has no evidence President Joe Biden did anything to warrant impeachment but the only question on anchor John Roberts’ mind was whether the Republicans will charge Hunter Biden with contempt of Congress.
Oversight Committee chair Comer visited Fox’s “news” show, America Reports, to discuss the latest in the Biden impeachment campaign today. A terrific article by Media Matters’ Matt Gertz explains how Fox News is almost as responsible for the Biden impeachment inquiry as the Republicans who voted for it. “The right-wing propaganda network’s stars have long demanded a Biden impeachment as both retaliation and political cover for Donald Trump’s various impeachments and criminal indictments,” Gertz wrote. “Since those Fox commentators wield more power within the GOP than most of its putative leaders do, a Biden impeachment inquiry has seemed inevitable, with the only question being what they’d end up backfilling as its rationale.”
We all know that Fox will not be satisfied with the impeachment inquiry House Republicans just voted for. We also know that House Republicans will never declare President Biden vindicated, regardless of a lack of evidence of any high or low crime. In other words, his impeachment seems inevitable, too.
As if to both distract from the lack of evidence and to promote President Biden’s supposed guilt by association, Roberts very clearly signaled that Fox wants Hunter Biden to be charged with contempt of Congress for not honoring a subpoena – even though he is willing to testify so long as it’s in public. Comer had quickly rejected the offer.
The New York Times explained that Hunter Biden wants to testify in public because he is concerned Republicans would twist or selectively leak what he says.
But “objective” Roberts only seemed concerned that Hunter Biden might not be charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify in private.
There was a lot of suggestion from Comer that he really, really has something on Joe Biden this time, a story we’ve heard before. Even Rep. Nancy Mace, a Trump VP pick wannabe, couldn’t come up with any evidence of corruption this week when asked for it by Fox’s own Maria Bartiromo. “Well … We’ll have to …” Mace sputtered. She finally said, “That’ll be part of the investigation.”
Today, Comer blathered about former Hunter Biden prosecutor Leslie Wolf who supposedly told investigators to “stand down” from investigating Joe Biden. Last I checked, that is not any evidence against Joe Biden. Comer even admitted he did not “get any more clarity” than that. But he declared, “at the end of the day,” “all roads lead to Leslie Wolf.” He also claimed, “I mean, this says a lot about the Biden family.”
“Objective” anchor Sandra Smith’s response to all this smoke without fire? She wanted to know when there will be more to hype. “So, are there going to be more depositions between now and the holidays? What do the next few weeks look like?” were her only follow-up questions.
Comer even admitted he has no real evidence yet: “We followed the money, we have thousands of pages of emails, and we need to know exactly what happened so we can connect the dots and try to determine why the Biden's weren't held accountable years ago.”
Rather than highlight the fact that no dots have been connected yet, despite having “followed the money,” Roberts changed the subject. A lower-third banner read, “House GOP pushes to hold Hunter Biden in contempt.” That’s exactly what Roberts began pushing, too.
ROBERTS: On the subject of people coming before the committee under subpoena, will you seek a contempt of Congress charge against Hunter Biden for showing up here, on the Senate side, in a very public forum, giving a statement, then skipping out on the subpoena and the deposition that he had been subpoenaed for?
Next, Roberts feigned objectivity by throwing in a comment from Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, but he concluded by suggesting she should be ignored:
ROBERTS: A lot of people drawing parallels to Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, both of whom were charged, but [Rep.] Debbie Dingell voiced a very important difference yesterday, in which she said that Misters Navarro and Bannon refused to testify at all, even in an open session, whereas Hunter Biden said he'll come before Congress at an open session, but he doesn't want to do it behind closed doors. So, on that basis, would you seek a contempt of Congress citation?
Notice that Roberts didn’t ask if Comer thought Dingell had a point, did not tell viewers what the law says about this situation, did not even ask why Comer refused Hunter’s offer to testify in public.
Not surprisingly, Comer said he would seek a contempt of Congress charge. “Yes, I mean, look, Hunter Biden displayed the arrogance and entitlement that we felt like he's had the whole time when he showed up at the exact same time he was supposed to be in for a deposition, a normal deposition from a normal congressional investigation,” Comer sneered. “We had tens of thousands of pages, of documents, hundreds of specific questions. And he just goes out and basically gives Congress a middle finger, goes out and says he wants to make a statement and have a press conference. Then when he got through making his statement asking for pity, and he drove off in his car.”
Then Comer baselessly suggested that President Joe Biden was part of the wrongdoing. “I mean, this is how the Biden's have operated,” Comer added.
Smith did her part again, with the same sly, feigned objectivity as her co-anchor. “There are many critics on the right saying there’s still no evidence,” she began. But instead of asking for real evidence, she opened the door for Comer to obfuscate more. “Where will Republicans get with this, Congressman?”
Comer went on a tear: “five payments going directly to Joe Biden … from the Biden influence-peddling scheme. We have emails and text messages that show Joe Biden communicated with all the people that he once said he never met.” Etc. Followed by complaints that the White House did not turn over everything the House Republicans asked for. “They are obstructing us, and that’s why the Republicans voted unanimously to proceed with impeachment inquiry,” Comer said.
So, Comer had just admitted – again – he has no actual evidence of Joe Biden wrongdoing.
Neither Roberts nor Smith acknowledged that. Maybe they were afraid he wouldn't want to come on their show again. Instead, Roberts pushed again for contempt charges against Hunter Biden. Roberts said, “If I can come back to the Hunter Biden contempt of Congress citation. Have you spoken with officials at the DOJ about this and are they favorably disposed to pursue charges?”
Comer said that would be Rep. Jim Jordan’s job. That’s the same Jim Jordan who defied subpoenas to testify to the House Jan. 6 committee. Not that either Smith or Roberts mentioned that pesky fact.
Instead, Smith said, “Congressman, I appreciate your time today. Thank you” and Roberts wished Comer a merry Christmas, adding, “We probably won’t see you before then.”
You can watch watch Smith’s and Roberts’ shocking disinterest in the lack of evidence against President Biden and the effort to distract from that below, from the December 15, 2023 America Reports.