Comer claims ‘investigative scrutiny’ led to Hunter Biden plea deal implosion
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) took a victory lap after Hunter Biden’s supposed plea deal evaporated — claiming his multiple probes opened the first son up to more scrutiny.
Comer contended that the dramatic court development lent credence to his string of investigations into the first son’s overseas business dealings that have drawn scorn from Democrats.
“What we’re seeing today is that the Biden family is under a whole lot more investigative scrutiny than what the media has reported,” Comer told Fox News.
“I think that you’re seeing our investigation that’s shined a light on the many wrongdoings of the Biden family has picked up a lot of credibility today, because now we see that there are a lot of crimes that this family’s committed and that played out in court today.”
Hunter Biden was widely expected to unceremoniously cement a probation-only plea deal with federal prosecutors for a pair of willful failure to pay federal income tax misdemeanors and an illegal possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs felony charge.
But that expected cakewalk was quickly torpedoed in a dramatic hearing in which presiding US District Judge Maryellen Noreika panned the agreement and found daylight between the defense and prosecution.
Noreika asked the prosecution whether Hunter Biden could still face scrutiny for other potential crimes such as failing to register as a foreign agent for lucrative dealings overseas.
Shortly after the prosecution said “yes,” Hunter Biden’s primary attorney Chris Clark dubbed the agreement “null and void.”
The 53-year-old first son later pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He had been expected to plead guilty to the two tax misdemeanors and enter a pretrial diversion agreement on the firearm felony charge.
Comer has been spearheading congressional GOP scrutiny over the Biden family’s overseas business dealings.
He has drawn flack from his Democratic counterparts for his laundry list of accusations of Biden family influence peddling — for which the White House contends he lacks evidence.
“I said from day one – after Jamie Raskin and I got briefed in the SCIF from the FBI – that the FBI said this was part of an ongoing investigation,” Comer added, referencing his panel’s briefing on an FD 1023 form detailing bribery allegations.
“Jamie Raskin walked out and said that that wasn’t true. He lied to the American people.”
Members of the Oversight panel gained access to the FD 1023 form last money in a sensitive compartmented information facility or SCIF.
It featured accusations from an FBI informant about a Ukrainian oligarch boasting of making a $5 million payment to Hunter Biden and a $5 million payment to President Biden.
That Ukrainian oligarch was Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of natural gas company Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden briefly worked on the board of Burisma and his father helped oust a Ukrainian prosecutor scrutinizing the firm.
President Biden vehemently denied a pay-to-play scheme and asked “Where’s the money?” when pressed about the allegations.
Additionally, the Oversight Committee has also taken interest in two IRS whistleblowers who have alleged that the federal probe of the first son was rife with favoritism and soft on him.
Comer has also heavily examined the Biden family business dealings in China and Romania.
“What did they do to receive that money? Nobody knows. At the very least, Hunter Biden was serving as an agent for our enemies – for communist China, for Russia, for Romania,” Comer said.
“He was getting millions of dollars from foreign nationals in these countries. You are supposed to be registered to do that, and he was not.”
In recent days, the White House has seemingly subtly shifted its rhetorical defense tact on Hunter Biden.
President Biden has previously said, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” But the White House now says the president “was never in business with his son.”
Notably, a recent bombshell report from The Post previewed upcoming testimony from Hunter Biden’s former friend and business partner Devon Archer alleging that the first son put his father on speaker phone roughly two dozen times.
Archer, who is staring down jail time for defrauding an Indian tribe, is expected to testify to the Oversight Committee next week.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed the apparent shift in verbiage and stressed that the legal process is playing out.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and this was a personal matter for him. As we have said, the president, the first lady, they love their son, and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” she said.
“This case was handled independently — as all of you know — by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump.”
