The White House criticized House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Friday, accusing him of “blatantly lying” about Hunter Biden associate’s closed-door deposition.
“Yet again it appears @JamesComer is blatantly lying about closed-door testimony in the Republicans’ baseless, meandering, and failing so-called ‘impeachment inquiry’ of the President. This has happened over and over and over,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
Sams’ comments come after Bryan Sullivan, an attorney for Hunter’s associate Kevin Morris, accused Comer of releasing “cherry‐picked, out of context and totally misleading descriptions” in a statement about Morris’ closed-door deposition Thursday.
“When we started today’s interview of my client Mr. Kevin Morris, I specifically pointed out the practice of Republicans in making partial leaks of witness’ statements rather than releasing the actual transcript so the public would know the truth and not your often inaccurate spin and misstatements,” Sullivan wrote. “I specifically asked that this not to be done with Mr. Morris’ transcript and, if such were done, that the entire transcript be released.”
Last year, Comer similarly hyped Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer closed-door testimony. He claimed Archer’s testimony was devastating for President Biden. The transcript of Archer’s deposition revealed he actually said the opposite of what Comer was saying in public.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee told Politico that the committee intends to release the transcript of Morris’ testimony soon “but we do not have it from the court reporter at this time.”
The latest accusation against Comer comes as the committee announced that Hunter Biden will sit for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28. Hunter Biden had initially defied a subpoena for closed-door testimony last month, insisting on a public hearing. He argued that a public testimony would prevent House Republicans from selectively leaking and distorting his testimony.
He agreed to testify after he was issued a new subpoena and threatened with being held in contempt of Congress.
Republicans have accused Biden of benefiting and being influenced by Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. They are yet to provide any evidence to support their allegations.
