Dems call into question James Comer’s characterization of witnesses as ‘whistleblowers’

A far-right congressman who is leading an investigation into President Joe Biden and his family over influence-peddling allegations has either mischaracterized witnesses, or withheld evidence.

That’s according to Maryland Congressman James Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, who alleges that Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who chairs the committee, hasn’t been conducting the investigation in good faith, The Washington Post reports.

Comer in interviews with Fox News and Breitbart News said that four witnesses have provided information to the committee in the investigation, who he characterized as “whistleblowers.”

But in a letter to Comer last week, Raskin said Comer’s staffers assured him that only two witnesses had provided information to the committee, and that “no new witness information ... had actually been provided,” according to The Post, which obtained a copy of the letter.

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House committees are required to share records with members of both parties, but staffers sometimes withhold sensitive information to protect whistleblowers, the report said.

The witnesses have been identified as Eric Schwerin, who serves as the president of Hunter Biden’s investment firm, and Kathy Chung, Joe Biden’s executive assistant when he was vice president.

“As you are aware, Mr. Schwerin and Ms. Chung, the two individuals your staff specifically identified as the individuals they understood to have been referenced during your March 6 Fox News interview, are not whistleblowers,” Raskin wrote. “Your repeated statements about ‘four people’ suggest that either you have intentionally misrepresented the Committee’s investigative progress to your conservative audience or that key investigative steps have been deliberately withheld from Committee Democrats.”

Comer responded in a statement that accused Democrats of being “openly hostile towards our investigation into the Biden family’s financial transactions,” noting that “multiple individuals have approached the Oversight Committee as whistleblowers with a desire to share information confidentially."

“As Ranking Member Raskin well knows, the Oversight Committee has a responsibility to protect whistleblowers,” Comer continued. “The Oversight Committee’s investigation remains focused on suspicious activity reports held by the Treasury Department and Biden family members’ and associates’ bank records we’ve obtained.”

The report notes that under Comer’s leadership, the Oversight Committee has focused its attention on Biden and his family while putting a stop to influence peddling investigations of former President Donald Trump.

Asked to explain why his committee ended investigations into Trump, Comer earlier this year told CNN:“I think the influence-peddling with respect to the Trump administration will be a part of our overall investigation because both Democrats and Republicans have complained about this with the previous two administrations.”