Joe Biden was a private citizen in 2018
Hold that thought (CBS News):
House Republicans released bank records of President Biden’s brother, James Biden, Friday, that they argue raise more questions about whether President Biden personally benefited from his family’s business ventures.
Bank records released by the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability revealed a $200,000 personal check paid to Mr. Biden from his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden. The personal check, which was labeled a loan repayment, was issued before Biden’s presidency, on the same date in 2018 when Americore Health LLC, a healthcare company that manages rural hospitals across the United States also wired a $200,000 loan into James Biden’s PNC bank account.
In video remarks posted to X, Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee claimed, “Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings.”
In a bankruptcy filing last year, Americore Health LLC claimed James Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from the company on the promise that his last name “could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East, based on his political connections.”
There are close to 13,000 registered lobbyists operating in this country. Roughly half of former congressman (and who knows how many former Hill staffers) move from a government paycheck into the lobbying or consulting industry to trade on their political connections. Comer knows more than a few by now.
Most of the press has learned to ignore Comer.
The Comer committee’s mission is to “ensure the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies.” Shoehorn investigating private citizens into that mission statement if you can. Better yet, find a coherent thought in Comer’s statements.
Now watch Comer in action:
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023
Joe Biden was a private citizen in 2018.
This story is all over the far-right internet repeating Comer’s “shady financial dealings” smear of the Biden family. Comer does not elaborate; he need not. Innuendo is doing all the work here.
This from Comer’s “just asking questions” press release:
Did [Joe Biden] know that the same day James Biden wrote him a check for $200,000, James Biden had just received a loan for the exact same amount from business dealings with a company that was in financial distress and failing?
Since we’re “just asking questions,” how many money managers working for financially distressed and failing Wall Street banks received bonus checks far exceeding $200,000 in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse? How many had congressional committees investigating them?
THIS JUST IN: Area Man Repays Loan to Brother. https://t.co/nTzZexRIMr
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) October 21, 2023
If this statement from Comer is true to form for right-wing propaganda, the whole point is to get the large-font headline. That is, to generate “smoke.” Whether or not there is fire is beside the point. By the time the smoke clears and we find once again that there was never any fire, the news cycle will have moved on. Followup reporting debunking the original allegation appears on page A7 or later. But the memory that there was something-something about Biden and money and shady-shady lives on in people’s heads.
From Swiftboats to birth certificates to Benghazi and “but her emails,” that’s the whole game.