House Republicans 'shielding' Trump by ignoring 'allegations of impropriety': analysis

When former President Joe Biden was in the White House, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) went after him with a vengeance — often promoting conspiracy theories involving the Democratic then-president and his son, Hunter Biden. But Comer is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and isn't targeting him for investigations.

In his May 1 column, the Washington Post's Philip Bump accuses Comer and other Republicans on the House Oversight Committee of having a double standard and stresses that there would be plenty of Trump-related things to investigate if they weren't "shielding" him.

According to Bump, the "majority of members on the House Oversight Committee — and in particular Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) — have a specific vision for how their power should be deployed."

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"Their mission is not to work across the aisle to make government faster and cleaner," Bump laments. "As has been made very clear in the two years since Republicans retook the majority, their mission instead is to generate allegations of impropriety by their political opponents while shielding their allies. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the conflicting approach Comer and his committee have taken to allegations of self-enrichment by the nation's chief executive."

Bump continues, "Days after Republicans won their majority in November 2022, Comer held a news conference in which he sought to draw attention to claims — stoked in right-wing media and embraced by his party while in the minority — that President Joe Biden had benefited from his son Hunter Biden's consulting work…. To put a fine point on it, two years of searching and subpoenas and depositions provided no concrete evidence — and very little circumstantial evidence! — that Joe Biden had used his position for his own personal benefit. Two seconds into Donald Trump's second term in office, by contrast, there could have been any number of ripe targets for a similarly focused investigation. Comer very obviously has no interest in doing so."

The Post columnist notes that since Trump's inauguration on January 20, "viable avenues for investigation have become only more numerous" — but Comer has no interest in pursuing them.

"On Tuesday, (April 29)," Bump explains, "the New York Times published an exhaustive look at the Trumps' creation of a crypto-centered investment structure called World Liberty Financial. It has explicit manifestations of nearly everything Comer was unable to prove about Biden and his family: exercising presidential power for the benefit of the company — and by extension himself and his sons — allowing partners to assume the trappings of the federal government for private financial discussions, foreign investors admitting that their interest is driven by the president's participation…. Then there was the announcement last month that Donald Trump Jr. is the co-founder of a new private club in D.C."

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Bump adds, "For a membership fee of $500,000, you can mingle with MAGA World luminaries and — if the kickoff event is any indicator — members of the Trump Administration. None of this rinky-dink 'I'll put my dad on speakerphone if he calls' stuff. Aptly enough, the club is called Executive Branch."

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Philip Bump's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).