Jake Tapper clashes with James Comer over Biden corruption allegations during CNN interview
CNN anchor Jake Tapper sparred with House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., about his committee's ongoing investigation into Biden family corruption allegations.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper appeared largely dismissive of the recent findings from House Republican showing millions of dollars from foreign entities being funneled to several members of the Biden family, chalking them up as "sleazy" and he's not seeing any evidence of a crime during a contentious interview with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.
Comer's probe investigating any involvement President Biden may have had in the huge sums that were wired to his family, which exceed over $20 million, and his committee revealed this week that as vice president, Biden had dinner with multiple foreign associates of Hunter's.
Tapper kicked off his interview Thursday by playing Comer's own words from last year saying that his committee is specifically investigating the president, not his family.
"So let's pause it for the sake of argument that Hunter Biden is sleazy and the president's relatives tried to profit off the Biden family brand, something CNN has reported on, what's new in this memo?" Tapper asked.
CNN's Jake Tapper repeatedly insisted asked House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky, what President Biden did wrong during a tense interview. (Screenshot/CNN)
Comer initially responded by citing the testimony from Hunter's former longtime business partner Devon Archer, who said the then-vice president was put on speakerphone during Hunter's business meetings at least 20 times, debunking the current president's longstanding claim that he had never spoken to his son nor to his son's associates about business. He then went on to shed some light on the shady foreign business partners that were mentioned in the latest House Oversight memo, stressing that before the investigation, it was not known that these wire transfers were taking place while Biden was in office as VP.
"Well, you definitely have made a case that the people who are around President Biden in terms of the lobbyists and his son Hunter have trafficked on that connection to the then-vice president now president, but I haven't yet seen any evidence that the president did anything wrong," Tapper told Comer.
The liberal CNN host cited Archer's comments summarizing the shady business dealings with the Bidens as "how the world works."
"Again, just looking for evidence because we're talking about impeachment here, I don't see any evidence of any crime. And, frankly, that is how the world works in Washington, DC." Tapper said. "And if you guys are gonna launch an effort to try to reform Washington so people who are powerful can't have their wives and children and husbands and others traffic on that relationship, you know, I'll be first in line to help you out. But it doesn't seem like you're trying to do that. It seems like you're trying to just go after President Biden."
Questions continue swirling over whether President Biden had any involvement in his son Hunter's business dealings. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Comer pushed back, telling Tapper Republicans are trying to implement a "legislative fix" to prevent the influence peddling.
"Certainly there's sleaze, there's sleaze there. I'm saying what did the president do wrong?" Tapper pressed Comer.
"Well remember, when we started this investigation at the end of January, that's when I got subpoena power the last week in January, the narrative was the laptop was Russian disinformation. Joe Biden's family never received money from China, Joe Biden's family never received any of this money while he was vice president and Joe Biden never communicated with any of the people that sent his family this money. All four of those things had been proven false," Comer responded. "So our investigations already turned up a lot of information. Now, I think, even though there may not be any curiosity by my friends at CNN, I think there's curiosity by majority of Americans who-"
"I'm very curious about it, sir. I'm very curious about it," Tapper interjected. "That's why I'm reading your reports. That's why I'm having you on the show. I just haven't seen it- Look, the memo insists that even though there's no evidence Biden personally took the money, it doesn't get him off the hook. It calls the argument, quote, ‘a hollow claim no other American would be afforded if their family members accepted foreign payments or bribes,’ unquote. Okay, fair enough."
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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., joked that his "friends" at CNN lacked "any curiosity" in the Biden corruption allegations during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. (Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Tapper then quickly pivoted to recent comments Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said calling out the Trump family's "grifting," pointing to the $2 billion Jared Kushner received from Saudi Arabia after leaving the White House, Tapper adding "it all stinks to me." Comer acknowledged that the Kushner transaction "did cross the line of ethics" but stressed it occurred after the Trump administration and that Kushner "actually has a legitimate business," both that are not in common with the Biden allegations.
"Days after [then-Vice President Biden] left Romania, his family started receiving wires from a corrupt Romanian-born national days- four days after he left, including his granddaughter. What's his granddaughter doing getting a wire from a Romanian foreign national?" Comer said. "This is why we're investigating and it's difficult, Jake. It's very difficult. The Biden attorneys are obstructing, they're intimidating witnesses, the DOJ will not cooperate with us, the FBI will not cooperate with us, the IRS will not cooperate with us. Thank God we had whistleblowers from the IRS testified to our committee that they were told to stand down by the DOJ."
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Comer later continued, "Remember there's a text message from Hunter Biden to his daughter complaining that he had to give his father half his salary. So we've gone through a lot of bank records. We haven't gone through all the bank records. But look, we've called Joe Biden in several lies, including that he never spoke with any of these corrupt people from these foreign countries that send his family money. He had dinner with some of them we found in this… so there's, I think, more than enough evidence to show that Joe Biden hasn't been truthful with the American people. And you know, he has knowledge that his family was money laundering. He had to. You think that the Treasury-"
"Look, if there's evidence of money laundering, which is a crime, which is a federal crime, then obviously your committee should report it to the FBI and the Justice Department," Tapper interrupted.
"That's one of the reasons why the Delaware judge rejected the sweetheart plea deal," Comer said. "It's clearly violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and money laundering."
Tapper wrapped up his interview, telling Comer "come back when you got more to talk about."
Throughout the interview, CNN's on-air graphic read "House Republicans accuse Biden of corruption but latest memo presents no direct evidence."
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