The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is pushing back against Facts First USA’s call for an investigation into Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), describing the liberal advocacy group’s efforts as “theatrics” meant to intimidate.
“Dark money organizations are attempting to intimidate congressional investigators who are shining a light on the Biden family’s shady business schemes,” a House Oversight Committee spokesperson told The Epoch Times on May 16 in an emailed statement.
Earlier that day, Facts First USA sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, contending that Comer may have violated the law in a May 14 Fox News interview, during which he said his committee had been unable to “track down” an informant linked to allegations that President Joe Biden was involved in a quid-pro-quo bribery scheme.
“Representative James Comer recently revealed that the ‘informant’ he is relying on for his unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden cannot be located,” Facts First USA co-chairs Maria Cardona and David Jolly wrote. “In truth, there is a strong possibility that the ‘informant’ that Representative Comer has been speaking about does not exist. This would explain why Representative Comer never produces the evidence he says demonstrates criminal conduct on the part of the Biden family.”
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, it is unlawful for officials in any branch of the federal government to knowingly make any “materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation.”
For the Legislative Branch, the law only applies to administrative matters and congressional investigations or reviews.
Citing that law, Cardona and Jolly called on Graves to investigate, contending: “If there is a whistleblower who concocted a story about an informant, doing so violated Section 1001. Alternatively, it is Representative Comer who violated the law by lying to the American people about the existence of an informant.”
However, the Oversight Committee noted that the whistleblower who had spoken with Congress about the bribery allegations against Biden was not the informant Comer had been referring to in his statements.
“Chairman Comer has been clear that the whistleblower who has provided detailed information regarding the FBI’s evidence of a criminal bribery scheme involving Joe Biden is alive and well,” the spokesperson said. “We won’t be intimidated by these groups’ theatrics and antics.”
Although Facts First USA touts itself as a bipartisan organization, the group has been candid about its opposition to the Republican “MAGA majority” in the House of Representatives and their ongoing investigation into the president’s family.
Following the Oversight Committee’s press conference last week detailing new findings in that investigation—chiefly, that Biden family members have received more than $10 million from foreign entities—the advocacy group responded by calling the briefing “embarrassingly underwhelming.”
“This press conference from Congressman Comer revealed nothing new and was just the same warmed-over leftover conspiracy theories Bannon and Giuliani have been peddling for years,” Facts First USA President David Brock said in a statement. “At this point Comer and the MAGA Oversight Committee have the credibility of a sentient My Pillow commercial.”
Brock is the founder of the liberal Media Matters for America and the Democratic American Bridge 21st Century super PAC.
In March, the conservative America First Legal Foundation (AFL) called for an investigation into Facts First USA, holding that the organization, under Brock’s direction, had been illegally coordinating efforts to obstruct congressional investigations.
In a letter to the House Sergeant at Arms, the group cited an October memo (pdf) in which Brock identified his organization as a “SWAT team” focused on coordinating “maximum pushback” against Republicans with the ultimate goal of securing Biden’s reelection.
“The presidential election in 2024 will be close and simply relying on the hope that facts will triumph over conspiracy is not sufficient,” Brock wrote in that confidential missive.
“Instead, a robust external force—a SWAT team with additional capacity—must also be in place to ensure that the media and public do not accept the false narrative that flows from congressional investigations.
“An external operation will also allow President Biden to stay focused on his own preferred messaging during 2023 and 2024 and on his reelection campaign. We call this effort Facts First USA.”
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