Comer calls on Raskin to ‘apologize’ for ‘disinformation’ in Biden family investigation

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) went after Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Thursday, accusing the Democrat of “spreading disinformation” about their committee’s investigation into President Biden’s family finances.

“In the course of this investigation, you have been a spirited critic of the need to look into President Biden or his family,” Comer wrote to Raskin in a letter. “However, the Oversight Committee must not be used as a means to propagate false or deceptive information, and for that purpose, we must address public statements you have made that contradict facts and are, unfortunately, lies.”

“The Committe requests that you formally correct the record and apologize to the American people for spreading disinformation about the evidence collected by the Committe during its investigation of President Biden,” he continued.

Comer, the chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said his ranking member mischaracterized information shared in the committee and downplayed the committee’s investigation findings. 

Raskin has consistently derided Comer’s investigation, saying Republicans don’t have a “smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol” of evidence against the president.

“They’ve got nothing on President Joe Biden. All they can do is return to the thoroughly demolished lie that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump launched five years ago,” Raskin said last month, calling Republicans’ evidence a “conspiracy theory” and a “fairytale.”

Comer has claimed that the investigation has proven Biden accepted $200,000 of money from businesses via his brother, James Biden. 

Financial documents released by the committee show that President Biden settled a set of small personal loans between himself and his brother between the time he left office as vice president and launched a presidential campaign.

“The Oversight Committee’s description of the $200,000 check is highly selective and misleading,” Paul Fishman, attorney for James Biden, said in a statement to CBS News. “The Committee has the bank documents that show both the loan Jim received from his brother in January 2018 and the repayment by check six weeks later. At no time did Jim involve his brother in any of his business relationships.”

The Oversight Committee has also focused on the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. He has been charged with a set of firearms charges by a Delaware special counsel, unrelated to his father.

The committee’s investigation has been at the spearhead of GOP efforts to impeach President Biden. Before losing his job early this month, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) backed efforts to launch an official impeachment inquiry from the Oversight investigation.