Latest news with #JamesComer
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pure 'Projection': MAGA Lawmaker's Claim About Cults Backfires Spectacularly
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday accused former President Joe Biden's inner circle of being a 'cult' that helped cover up his alleged decline during his final year in office. But his choice of words has critics pointing right back at him and other Republicans who've shown fealty to President Donald Trump. 'It's almost like a cult,' Comer said on Newsmax. 'They wanna say, 'Yes, Joe Biden was in excellent mental condition.' They never saw any decline.' He said Biden's aides 'put makeup on him' and 'did a lot of stuff to conceal his true decline to America.' Comer liked the 'cult' line so much he also used it during a Fox News appearance earlier in the evening. 'It's almost like they were a cult,' he said, referring to Biden's aides, whom he accused of covering up the former president's alleged 'rapid decline' in health. But the references to loyal 'cult' followers and 'makeup' had Comer's critics pointing right back at him and others loyal to Trump. And many used the word 'projection' as they fired back on X:
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Kamala Harris is a 'great candidate for Republicans,' says Rep. James Comer
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., discusses his investigation into former President Joe Biden's mental acuity while in office and former Vice President Kamala Harris' decision not to run for California governor on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Biden 'Politburo' member Steve Ricchetti to appear before House investigators in Comer cover-up probe
Longtime Democratic operative Steve Ricchetti is appearing before House investigators on Wednesday, the seventh former White House aide to be summoned for Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's probe. Ricchetti most recently served as counselor to President Joe Biden during the vast majority of the Biden White House's four-year term. He's now expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee staff for a closed-door transcribed interview that could last several hours. Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether Biden's top White House aides concealed signs of mental decline in the president, and if that meant executive actions were signed via autopen without his knowledge. Ricchetti first began working for Biden in 2012, when he was appointed as counselor to the vice president during the Obama administration. He was soon promoted to Biden's chief of staff in late 2013. Ricchetti, who made a living as both a lobbyist and a Democratic insider, chaired Biden's 2020 presidential campaign as well. The committee's interest in him, however, lies in his alleged key role in managing the White House while aides reportedly worked to obscure signs of the president's mental decline. "As Counselor to former President Biden, you served as one of his closest advisors. According to a report, you were part of a group of insiders who implemented a strategy to minimize 'the president's age-related struggles,'" Comer wrote to Ricchetti in June, referencing a Wall Street Journal report. "The scope and details of that strategy cannot go without investigation. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive's condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response." Axios reporter Alex Thompson, who co-wrote "Original Sin" with CNN host Jake Tapper about Biden's cognitive decline and his aides' alleged attempts to cover it up, told PBS program Washington Week earlier this year that Ricchetti was part of a small group of insiders that some dubbed Biden's "Politburo." He also played a key role in Biden's legislative agenda, most notably as one of the Democratic negotiators working with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to avoid a full-blown fiscal crisis over the U.S. national debt in early 2023. It comes after another close former aide, former White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, appeared before investigators for his own transcribed interview last week. Like Klain, Ricchetti is appearing on voluntary terms—the fourth former Biden aide to do so. Three of the previous six Biden administration officials who appeared before the House Oversight Committee did so under subpoena. Former White House physician Kevin O'Connor, as well as former advisers Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, all pleaded the Fifth Amendment during their compulsory sit-downs. But the three voluntary transcribed interviews that have occurred so far have lasted more than five hours, as staff for both Democrats and Republicans take turns in rounds of questioning.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
GOP House committee chair yet to issue a subpoena for Epstein files
A week after a House Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the Justice Department for records related to Jeffrey Epstein, the chairman of the full committee still hasn't issued the order. The delay stands in stark contrast to the subpoena Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) — the House Oversight chairman — issued and signed within 24 hours of a similar subcommittee vote that compelled Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to testify before Congress. And it raises questions about Republicans' willingness to hold the Trump administration accountable for its failure to release the Epstein files in the face of significant backlash from the president's GOP base.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress, but only with immunity and conditions met
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse minors, has said she is willing to testify before the US Congress but only if she is granted immunity and other conditions are met. As per to a letter seen by CNN, her lawyers wrote to the House Oversight Committee saying she would cooperate 'if a fair and safe path forward can be established.' House Oversight Chair James Comer had earlier issued a subpoena for Maxwell to testify next month. Her lawyers said they had first planned to use her Fifth Amendment rights which protect against self-incrimination but later suggested she might speak to Congress under certain terms. One reason, they said, is that Maxwell is currently appealing her criminal conviction to the US Supreme Court. 'Any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool,' her lawyers wrote, as reported by CNN. They also said some lawmakers had already made public remarks about Maxwell that 'appear to have prejudged her credibility without even listening to what she has to say or evaluating the extensive documentation that corroborates it.' Maxwell's lawyers listed four main conditions for her testimony: If these conditions are not met, they said, Maxwell would invoke her right to remain silent. A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee told CNN that Maxwell's request for immunity would not be considered. 'The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,' the statement said. Chair James Comer also told CNN last week, 'I don't think there are many Republicans that want to give immunity to someone that may have been sex trafficking children.' Maxwell's legal team ended their letter by appealing to President Donald Trump for clemency. 'Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing and eager to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, DC,' the letter said. 'She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.'
