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Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, faced ridicule online for comments he made on Friday about Hunter Biden's second indictment.
The 56-page indictment filed in California on Thursday alleges that Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, evaded at least $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019. Three felony and six misdemeanor charges allege that he failed to file and pay taxes, false tax return and evasion of assessment. He is accused of spending money on prostitution, online pornography and luxury cars, in addition to $10,000 on a sex club membership. If convicted, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison.
In July, a plea deal fell apart in which Hunter Biden would have pleaded guilty to two tax-related misdemeanors in exchange for a felony gun charge being dropped. In October, the president's son, who has a history of drug addiction, pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user.
Meanwhile, the GOP has been investigating President Biden over allegations that he intervened and benefited from his son's business dealings with China and Ukraine while he was vice president under former President Barack Obama, including accusations of taking bribes. The allegations have been denied by the White House and Hunter Biden's lawyers, with Democrats criticizing the GOP's impeachment inquiries for failing to find any meaningful evidence against the president.
In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said he believes Department of Justice's (DOJ) special counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter Biden to shield him from his scheduled deposition next week in front of Comer's committee.
"My concern is that Weiss may have indicted Biden to protect him from him having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday," Comer said on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper.
Comer added that Weiss' entire criminal investigation "has been about a cover up," telling Tapper that Hunter Biden was indicted on "the least little thing."
"Look what he's done. Anybody else in America would already be in prison," Comer said.
Newsweek has reached out to Comer and the White House via email for comment.
As part of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, Comer has subpoenaed several members of the president's family, including his brother James Biden and Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden has been directed to sit for a deposition on December 13.
However, Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, told Congress in letter late last month that his client is only willing to appear for a public hearing for questioning. If Hunter Biden does not appear at his deposition on Wednesday, Comer has said he will hold him in contempt of Congress for evading his subpoena.
Since Comer's comments, many have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to ridicule the congressman after a part of the interview was posted by user Acyn on Friday evening.
Biden-Harris HQ noted the interview on X by writing, "Comer: This isn't about politics. Tapper: *bursts out laughing*"
Representative Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat, wrote on X: "'We think.' 'We believe.' Never 'we have evidence.' @GOP: Let's impeach the President of the United States because Farmer Comer 'thinks' and 'believes' the President did something wrong!"
While Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic simply wrote, "And really, what do words even mean."
X user TrumpsTaxes added: "My two favorite things about this video: 1. Jake Tapper humiliating James Comer. 2. The :24 mark when James Comer's voice hits the high register five times in one sentence...right after being humiliated by Jake Tapper."
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About the writer
Natalie Venegas is a Weekend Reporter at Newsweek based in New York. Her focus is reporting on education, social justice ... Read more