Biden Impeachment Inquiry in 'Downhill Phase': James Comer

Oversight Committee Chair Representative James Comer on Tuesday claimed that the divisive impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is in the "downhill" phase and should wrap up soon.

House Republicans, predominantly fueled by the demands of the further-right and MAGA-aligned members of their caucus, have been attempting to conduct impeachment proceedings against Biden since they took a slim majority in the chamber in last year's midterms. The primary claim that has been put forward has been that the president used his influence to aid the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, in Ukraine and China, and profited from the results.

With an impeachment inquiry formally launched last month, the effort has been criticized by many as lacking in evidence, with some going so far as to call the whole matter a political stunt. Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar called by House Republicans as a witness during the first inquiry hearing, said that he did not believe that the evidence put forward so far "currently meets the standard of a high crime and misdemeanor needed for an article of impeachment." Biden himself has also consistently denied that he ever had any involvement with his son's business matters.

Despite these headwinds, Comer insisted in a recent interview with conservative political commentator Benny Johnson that there are "mountains of evidence" for the impeachment of Biden, and suggested that he hopes to wrap up the inquiry process soon.

"We know not only there were crimes, we know there are cover-ups," Comer said. "We have mountains of evidence and now we're ready to bring 'em in. We're in the downhill phase of this investigation now because we have so many documents and we can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose, and we can ask these questions with evidence."

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Comer recently touted a piece of evidence as a "smoking gun" against Biden: images of a $200,000 check sent to Biden by his brother, James Biden, in 2018, which the Republican cited as proof of the then-former-vice-president's corruption. This evidence was met with a wave of mockery online, with observers noting that the check was marked as a "loan repayment," which would not be a sign of illicit doings. They also pointed out that the payment was made before Biden became president, and so would have no bearing on his conduct in the Oval Office.

"Jamie Comer is pretty desperate to try to distract from Republicans' speaker mess," White House spokesman Ian Sams wrote. "It's a loan repayment from when President Biden loaned his brother money. When he was out of office in 2018, no less. It's right there on the check! Matt Gaetz was right: More 'Failure Theater!'"