House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer blasted a Democratic lawmaker as a “liar” and a “Smurf” during a contentious hearing Tuesday after Comer’s own family finances came under scrutiny.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) provoked Comer (R-Ky.) by demanding that he publicly explain financial transactions involving his brother.
“You also do business with your brother with potential loans. So since you’ve framed that and manipulated it with the American people, that Joe Biden did something wrong while he was out of office, I just wanted to know if you’d like to use some of my time,” Moskowitz said. .
Comer (R-Ky.) eagerly obliged, suggesting that characterizing the $218,000 payment he made to his brother Chad as a “loan” was “absolutely false.”
“I never loaned my brother a penny,” explained Comer. “My father, a dentist, has some farmland. He died and my brother couldn’t afford it. He wants to sell it but he wants to keep it in the family. So I bought it from my brother.”
The transaction was reported last week by The Daily Beast, in an article headlined: “James Comer, Like Joe Biden, Also Paid His Brother $200K.”
James Comer is eager to clarify his family affairs following media reports that have drawn attention to him.C-SPAN
The Kentucky Republican continues to dispute the characterization of his third-party company “Farm Team Properties, LLC,” as a “shell company.”
“It’s an LLC, they’re so financially blind [they] think because some say ‘LLC’ it is a shell company. This company … has real estate. It manages over a thousand acres of land,” stressed Comer.
As Comer digs deeper, Moskowitz tries to reclaim his time, but his chairman isn’t having it.
Oversight Committee Chairman calls 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 just doing all these things.”
The two then proceeded to yell at each other, with Moskowitz accusing Comer of having a different standard for the president than himself.
“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 peddled satire about the Biden family’s affairs.Getty Images
“Mr. Chairman, this seems to have gotten under your skin,” he added. “Perhaps we should sit down perhaps for a deposition.”
Comer then agreed that he would be willing to go under deposition with Hunter Biden and go to “our LLC.”
The Chairman of Oversight has insisted that he only bought land, but “did not get the wire from Romania, China.”
Moskowitz and Comer’s exchange took place during a hearing on the General Services Administration.
During the hearing, Comer called on 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, issued a subpoena for the testimony of Hunter Biden’s eldest son, James Biden’s first brother 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 inquiry regarding his family’s business dealings.AP
Both transfers were described on the checks as loan repayments, but Comer expressed skepticism and said even if they were loans, they showed the president directly benefited from his family’s foreign ventures.
The first payment is $40,000 in September 2017 and the second is $200,000 in March 2018.
Comer alleged that the $40,000 was “laundered” funds from the defunct Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy, which paid at least $6.1 million to Hunter and James Biden in 2017 and 2018 — mostly after Hunter threatened to anger his father in July 2017, writing to an associate based in China that he was “sitting here with my father” and “we want to understand why the commitments made were not fulfilled.”
Joe Biden at one point got 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 a “big guy.”
House Republicans connected the dots to China by stating that Hunter Biden had transferred money from a Chinese company to his Owasco firm in August 2017, then sent about $150,000 of it to the Lion Hall Group, which is controlled by James Biden. Later that month, James Biden’s wife Sara withdrew $50,000 from Lion Hall Group into the couple’s checking account.
Allies of the president have disputed that, noting that a firm wired $40,000 to James and Sara Biden on July 28, 2017 as a loan.
As for the $200,000, Comer stated that James Biden transferred the money to Joe Biden on the same day James received the same amount — $200,000 — from Americore Health.
A court filing last year by the bankruptcy trustee of Americore Health said James Biden “acquired” the funds “based on the assertion that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could secure large investments from the Middle East based on his political connections.”
Comer has publicly said he believes President Biden should be challenged, but noted that the decision is ultimately up to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
President Biden and the White House have downplayed allegations of wrongdoing and accused Comer of taking sides.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
