While House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, raised questions on Friday about President Joe Biden receiving a $20,000 loan from his brother, the revelation has since sparked mockery online about the validity of the claim.
Comer, who is leading the Republican impeachment inquiry into Biden, released what he says is evidence proving Biden’s corruption, sharing an image of a $200,000 check sent to the president by his brother James Biden and his sister-in-law Sarah in 2018. Marked as a loan repayment, the check was issued on the same date in 2018 that Americore Health LLC transferred $200,000 to James Biden’s bank account.
Americore Health LLC wrote in a 2022 bankruptcy filing that the president’s brother received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from them with the promise that his family name “could ‘open doors'” and that he could get a major investment from the Middle East , based on his political connections,” CBS News reported. The president’s brother later agreed to a $350,000 settlement with the company after it sued for nonpayment, the news outlet added.
In video remarks posted on X, formerly Twitter, Comer said: “The document we’re releasing today raises new questions about how President Biden personally benefited from his family’s shadowy influence spreading his name and their access to him.”
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
After Comer’s remarks, many took to X to mock the congressman’s claim, citing that the discovery of the check issued to Joe Biden clearly showed the money was sent as “loan repayment” and before he be president.
Ian Sams, the White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, wrote in an op-ed to X that Comer was “desperate” to deflect attention from Republicans’ continued inability to elect a House speaker, apparently referring to the failed attempts by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan to get the necessary 217 votes for the presidency.
“Jamie Comer is pretty desperate to try to distract from the Republican mess of speakers. This is a loan repayment from when President Biden loaned money to his brother. When he was out of office in 2018, no less. It’s right there on the check! Matt Getz was right: More “Theatre of Failure!” Sams wrote.
Additionally, according to CBS News, James Biden’s attorney, Paul Fishman, also opposed the lawsuit.
“The oversight committee’s description of the $200,000 check is highly selective and misleading,” Fishman said. “The committee has bank documents which show both the loan Jim received from his brother in January 2018 and the check payment six weeks later. At no time did Jim interfere with his brother in any of his business dealings.’
Journalist Aaron Rupar also opined on X’s discovery, writing: “Even if you take Comer at his word, which is something you should never do, it shows that Joe Biden received a loan payment from his brother in 2018 d.—when Joe was not in office or a candidate for one.”
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York, said the oversight committee is misleading the public with the claim.
“As usual, @GOPoversight is clearly misleading the public. @RepJamesComer hid a $200,000 loan from Joe Biden to his brother six weeks before his brother paid it off. It’s time to end this charade and focus on opening the House,” wrote Congressman H.
But Congressman Lauren Bobert, R-Colorado, defended the committee’s finding, writing Saturday on X: “The media has spent the last two years claiming there is no actual evidence of Joe Biden’s financial wrongdoing. Yesterday, the Oversight Committee revealed a $200,000 check James Biden wrote to his brother on the same day he received a loan from a bankrupt company. And this time it was even more than 10% for the Big Man.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Georgia, also defended the discovery and shared her reaction in a video on X on Friday, “We now have direct evidence that Joe Biden took direct payments from his brother Jim Biden in a complete money laundering scheme and that links it to foreign investment. The Democrats gave us hell, the media didn’t believe our stories, at Oversight we directly investigated Joe Biden and his corruption through his family business…now we have a check for $200,000. “
Comer argued that the loan repayment raises questions about whether the president personally benefited from his family’s business ventures.
“Even if this was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling that Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depends on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings,” he said in a video statement.
Newsweek has reached out to Comer, Biden and Americore Health LLC by email for further comment.
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