‘Laundering thin innuendo’: White House attacks Comer’s credibility ahead of contempt proceedings on FBI

The White House is attacking House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer’s (R-Ky.) credibility ahead of proceedings to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress over a document related to President Biden.

Comer has been demanding a document from the FBI, outlining an unverified and unspecified “alleged criminal scheme” involving a foreign national and Biden when he was vice president. 

“This repetitive tactic of laundering thin innuendo has proven his total lack of credibility – and lays bare why his baseless or debunked claims deserve derision,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, wrote in a memo first obtained by the Hill.

The memo for interested parties, dated for Thursday, is titled, “Having Repeatedly Proven His Lack of Credibility, Don’t Fall For James Comer’s Stunts” and outlines three instances of Comer pushing information promising to reveal illegal activities from the Biden family.

The FBI briefed Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Monday about the document, but Comer is moving ahead with proceedings against Wray, saying the FBI is refusing to hand over the unclassified document to the committee.

“In just a few short months, Comer and his MAGA Republican colleagues in Congress have torpedoed their credibility by repeatedly failing to deliver on much-hyped allegations,” Sams wrote in the memo. “Their fact-free wild goose chase continues to be a waste of taxpayer resources when House Republicans should instead be focusing on real issues American families care about.”

Sams accused Comer in the memo of pushing the allegation that there is a document related to a foreign bribery scheme involving Biden in order to make appearances on right-wing outlets and to get on TV “so he can simply say ‘Biden’ and ‘bribery’ over and over again in the same sentence.”

Last week, Sams called Comer’s efforts to get the FBI to hand over the document a political stunt to get airtime on Fox News.

Sams also highlighted in the memo that the Washington Post reported the allegation was not supported by facts, NBC reported that the allegation was not substantiated and CNN reported the FBI and prosecutors couldn’t corroborate the claims.

“Instead of spending their time and energy working on the issues that matter most to the American people, like lowering costs, creating jobs, or strengthening health care, congressional Republicans, led by … Comer and his committee, have spent six months wasting taxpayer resources to stage politically-motivated stunts disguised as ‘investigations,’” Sams wrote.

“But the Comer playbook has become predictable: Over-promise, then under-deliver,” he said.

The FBI had originally declined to provide the document to Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has also been behind the effort, but Comer said last week that Wray offered to let him see it at FBI headquarters.

The FBI in a statement Monday said it has been cooperative with Comer, calling an escalation to a contempt vote “unwarranted,” NBC reported.