James Comer's 'untethered' Hunter Biden claims destroyed by WaPo fact-checker

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has been making the rounds on TV, insinuating that his Republican investigators on the House Oversight Committee are unearthing a vast bribery scheme orchestrated by President Joe Biden through his family. But in reality, the committee's own documents don't say anything of the sort, wroteWashington Post Fact-Checker's Glenn Kessler on Thursday.

The memos from the committee, which cite a trove of bank records and witness testimony, "are written in a partisan manner — ignoring or playing down contrary information — but an interesting pattern has emerged," wrote Kessler.

"The memos themselves have careful language that is often hedged." However, once they are public, "Comer and other GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), go on Twitter or speak to conservative media using hyperbolic language that goes well beyond what the memos say" until eventually the description of the memos on right-wing outlets "becomes untethered from the documentation in the reports."

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For example, noted Kessler, Comer has claimed on Fox Business that, “We’ve identified about 20-plus shell companies that the Bidens have created to launder the money they were receiving from foreign nationals down to their personal bank account.”

But the memos he cites don't suggest most of the companies are shells – the majority of them appearing to be legitimate, Kessler said.

Comer and his allies have also repeatedly claimed the "Biden family" received $20 million in payments from overseas deals. However, actually reading their memos, "only about $7 million can be directly attributed to Biden family members, mostly Hunter, while the rest went to 'associates.'"

What little actually gets released as hard evidence from these investigations is very scant. For example, Republicans recently touted an interview with longtime Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer, but when the transcript was actually released, it revealed that Archer said he never saw Joe Biden involved in business dealings with his son, and their frequent phone calls were just those of a concerned father wanting to know his son was okay.

It later emerged that Comer, who touted the hearing as a bombshell, didn't even attend it – although he has tried to deny this was the case.

"Republicans are pursuing the case with vigor, but Comer undercuts the findings of his investigation by hyping what has been found," concluded Kessler, awarding the Oversight chair's claims about shell companies and payments Three Pinocchios. "Comer would have more credibility if he stuck to documented facts."