White House memo says GOP ‘telling the truth’ about grounds for inquiry

WASHINGTON — For months, the White House has accused Republicans of wielding congressional oversight powers to pursue politically motivated attacks on President Joe Biden.

Now the White House says the Republican congressman leading the probe into Biden family finances is advocating for them.

In a new memo obtained first by NBC News, White House spokesman Ian Sams said MAGA Republicans in the House led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer “admit” that the investigations of Congress on the finances of the Biden family are an attempt to harm the president politically.

“[E]Extreme MAGA House Republicans are caught doing something they rarely do: tell the truth,” he said. “They admit by their own words and deeds that these so-called ‘investigations’ are in fact not intended to reveal facts but to harm the president’s political position.”

Comer’s comments linking the probes to Biden’s poll numbers in a Fox News interview made it explicit, Sams continued.

Asked Monday about the impact of his investigation on Biden’s political stance heading into 2024, Comer said it “absolutely” moved the needle.

“There is no doubt,” he said. “You look at the polls, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending up; Joe Biden’s trend is down. And I think the media is looking around, scratching their heads, and realizing that the American people are following our investigation.

Comer has previously maintained that his investigation was not politically motivated.

Sams argued that this shows Republican motives.

“Despite previously insisting that his investigation ‘isn’t political’ and that ‘the only people who see this as a partisan investigation are the media and diehard Democrats,’ Monday morning around 4 a.m. in the morning, Comer took to the airwaves of Fox to brag that his investigations “move the needle” not because he uncovered facts, but because he asserted (wrongly, be it said by the way) that President Biden’s poll numbers “tend to go down,” he said.

The House Oversight Committee Republicans led by Comer are investigating foreign payments made to Biden family members, including the President’s son Hunter Biden and his brother James.

A memo released earlier this month by Comer says the Biden family’s activities in Romania “bear clear indications of an influence peddling scheme from 2015 to 2017.”

Comer suggested Biden may have been inappropriately influenced by his family’s overseas business ties while serving as vice president. But despite teasing a paper trail for months, the Kentucky Republican has yet to reveal payments made directly to Biden, before or after he left the Obama White House.

Sams pointed to reports drawing parallels between Comer’s comments and a moment eight years ago when Kevin McCarthy linked the House Republicans’ Benghazi investigation to Hillary Clinton’s rolling poll numbers.

Republicans quickly balked at the comments, describing the link as a “disappointment.” Shortly thereafter, McCarthy dropped out of the presidential race.