James Comer, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, strongly opposes the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. He asserts that Americans should not trust Attorney General Merrick Garland and emphasizes that his committee is fully capable of conducting a thorough investigation into the alleged business schemes of the Biden family.
The House Ways and Means Committee recently made public testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who claimed that officials from the Justice Department, FBI, and IRS interfered with the Hunter Biden investigation, alleging political influence in decision-making processes.
According to the whistleblowers, DOJ prosecutors instructed investigators to avoid questioning witnesses about President Biden, neglected to obtain search warrants related to the president’s son, and more.
These revelations emerged shortly after the Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. As part of the plea deal, Hunter Biden is expected to avoid imprisonment and has also agreed to a pretrial diversion agreement in relation to a separate charge of possessing a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
Despite these developments, Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, emphasizes the importance of keeping the investigation under the purview of his committee rather than entrusting it to a special counsel appointed by the Biden administration.
“The House Oversight Committee has found and shared with the public in five months what the Justice Department and FBI have kept secret for five years, so I think we’re moving right along,” Comer told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
“I strongly oppose the appointment of a special counsel,” he said. “I think that’s the most ridiculous idea that any Republican could think right now because, if you support a special counsel, you support and trust Merrick Garland to have the sole authority to pick one person who can then take over the investigation and never have to be transparent with the media or Congress until the conclusion of the investigation, which might take years.”
“I trust the House Oversight Committee to be the one and only entity leading this investigation,” he continued. “And we’ve already proven we can find all of this stuff in five months that took the government five years to find.”
Comer went on to describe the attorney general as “corrupt.”
“Garland lies to the American people when he says he has not been involved in any of this,” Comer said.
Comer’s statement pertains to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s initial response after the IRS whistleblower testimony was made public. Garland denied any inappropriate interference in the investigation of Hunter Biden, asserting that U.S. Attorney David Weiss had been granted full autonomy to make decisions independently.
According to one of the IRS whistleblowers, Weiss faced ongoing obstacles, restrictions, and marginalization from DOJ officials and other U.S. Attorneys. The whistleblower testified that Weiss had sought special counsel authority but was ultimately denied the request.
“As if the crimes the Bidens committed weren’t bad enough, what’s even worse is our federal government, led by Garland, is actively engaged in a cover-up,” Comer said. “It is clear that one of the reasons the DOJ sat on this probe with Hunter for so long was to let the statute of limitations expire on some of his tax problems.”
He added, “But we’re on it.”
Comer told Fox News Digital that his committee has Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive and is using it as a tool to guide investigators through their probe.
“We are using the contents of the hard drive, which the IRS was unable to do,” Comer said. “We have the hard drive. We are using it. And the people the IRS wanted to interview, we have interviewed, or are going to interview those people.”
According to Comer, the House Oversight Committee is anticipating testimony from Devon Archer, a business associate of Hunter Biden, later this month. The committee also intends to summon additional witnesses as part of their investigation.
Comer further disclosed that the panel is examining whether Hunter Biden violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
As part of Comer’s investigation, it has been revealed that the Biden family and their business associates established over 20 companies and received over $10 million from foreign individuals during Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president. Comer suggests that some of these payments could potentially indicate efforts by the Biden family to wield influence. He also alleges that the family took measures to conceal the origins and total amounts received from foreign companies.
Simultaneously, the committee has focused its attention on an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, which contains allegations of President Biden’s involvement in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national, influencing U.S. policy decisions.
Comer issued a subpoena for the document and demanded that the FBI provide it to Congress. Although the FBI did not comply, they did offer a compromise by providing a redacted version of the document for lawmakers to review in a secure setting on Capitol Hill.
