All posts tagged "james comer"

'Most significant challenge': Epstein files release may grind to a halt: Comer

A series of challenges threaten the timely release of Jeffrey Epstein's files according to investigation lead James Comer.

The House investigation is already facing off against a flurry of issues in securing the release of the files, but other problems could make it so nobody believes what they are reading, Politico reported. Investigation head Comer believes there is too much speculation around the Epstein files for the release to be believed.

He said, "There's so many conspiracy theories." Another issue is that some may "never believe" what they read in the report. Comer added, "I fear the report will be like the Warren Report. Nobody will ever believe it."

Further troubles could come from how the list is formatted. He added, "If there is no Epstein list, and the American people expect us to compose an Epstein list, if we don’t get any names from the victims, it’s going to be hard to do."

Politico writer Hailey Fuchs suggested the biggest challenge of all is not in formatting or believability, but in getting the files issued in a timely manner while facing off against the GOP.

Fuchs wrote, "But the most significant challenge Comer faces is managing the political fallout for Trump and the GOP writ large." Comer, a Republican politician from Kentucky, may be overthinking the burden of trying to push the files into a releasable state, according to a White House insider.

They said, "The president likes James Comer a lot. In fact, I spoke with [Trump] recently about [Comer] and he said he’s always been good and with him all the way. There’s no problems there."

The vote to release the Epstein files in the House earlier this month was passed onto the Senate, who voted unanimously to have the bill signed. Trump would sign off on the Epstein files bill, and it's a sign the Republican Party members had "declared war on the president", according to a report published on Monday.

A Republican representative believes the vote was a loyalty test within the Republican Party masterminded by Thomas Massie. Kentucky congressman Massie had pushed for a vote on the Epstein files, heading up a bipartisan group, according to Politico.

Representative Don Bacon sympathized with House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying he "tries his best" to keep the party together. But the Epstein vote has tested the GOP, and Bacon said the discharge petition for the files was an act that essentially "declared war on the president."

Leavitt insists DOJ prosecutor 'extremely qualified' and vows to appeal tossed foe cases

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the Department of Justice will appeal a federal judge's decision to dismiss cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Leavitt blamed U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who ruled that President Donald Trump unlawfully appointed his personal attorney, Lindsey Halligan, as interim U.S. attorney, without Senate confirmation.

"I know there was a judge who was clearly trying to shield Letitia James and James Comey from receiving accountability and that's why they took this unprecedented action to throw away the indictments against these two individuals but the Department of Justice will be appealing very soon and it is our position that Lindsey Halligan is extremely qualified for this position, but more importantly, was legally appointed to it," Leavitt said.

Halligan, whom the judge referred to in the opinion as "a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience," could potentially be disbarred.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement Monday afternoon, "The facts of the indictments against Comey and James have not changed and this will not be the final word on this matter."

This lickspittle's ludicrous report reveals Trump's true aim in power

On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) came forth, evidently speaking on behalf of the GOP majority on the House Oversight Committee, to label President Joe Biden's late pardons of many key Trump critics null and void.

Comer claimed that Biden did not personally authorize the use of autopens to sign pardons issued to good Americans who simply opposed President Donald Trump and his followers.

Comer's claim, done surely on the order of Trump himself, is not only clearly wrong as a matter of fact and law. It is yet another dictatorial move that threatens gut-wrenching harm to constitutional and civil self-government. It also sends many innocent lives careening towards extreme legal predicaments.

Of all Trump and MAGA's "retribution" to date, attacking Biden's pardons is the single most reckless and vicious act.

To put my lawyer hat on, momentarily, the benefit of autopen use is that signatures on documents, once accepted, are utterly binding. No exceptions. Period. This is especially true given President Biden specifically said he authorized every single one.

It is insane to allege that those pardons did not count.

I could cite all the cases that affirm the position, but they are nearly meaningless to most. Even lawyers only want the simple conclusion. But still, the validity is inarguably laid out in cases such as Ex parte Garland (1866) and Biddle v. Perovich (1927).

One does not need any legal training to note that even though the law is ironclad that the pardons stand, the whole point of Comer's declaration and investigation is to put the recipients through the hell of the prosecutorial process.

Even if we were to grant Trump and Republicans' strongest assertion, that someone fraudulently used an autopen to issue pardons behind the president's back, the pardons themselves would still be valid as accepted, and the only legitimate crimes to prosecute would be against staff who may have abused the process. That's it. Period.

Thus it is that even though Dr. Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and others will almost surely have their pardons stand, whether Biden authorized them or not — and he says he did — the real goal is already fulfilled. The point is that Trump and his lackeys want their targets to be forced to resort to extremely expensive defense lawyers, perhaps to be charged, booked, etc, all while asserting their rights and ultimately having their cases thrown out.

The process is the punishment for taking action the MAGA crowd doesn't like. That alone is guilt, in most Trump supporters' eyes.

Given that the law is as clear and simple as it gets, the fact that Comer, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Trump are recklessly doing it anyway shows breathtakingly precise dictatorial power, flowing from unmitigated rage.

When a country gets to the point that it is prosecuting critics for simply taking positions that the powerful don't like, it is, by definition, a dictatorship.

Sadder still, Trump campaigned on the issue, stating over and over again, "I am your retribution," cutely trying to show a duty to supporters, bearing the cross. It was "about them," when really he was the one burning inside. It is about revenge. He has said he loves blood-chilling payback more than nearly anything.

His MAGAs see this as merely the mirror image of Biden AG Merrick Garland's treatment of Trump. They are simply responding. "We" started it. Trump is a victim. So unfair.

That ridiculously self-serving view is as offensive to the core of democracy as can be. Trump invited prosecution when he tried to circumvent a perfectly normal election to stay in power, ultimately sending his supporters to sack the Capitol in what was, plainly, an attempted coup.

Usually, dictators attempt to violently overthrow government while knowing that it is all on the line — that they might give up their lives. Loser loses.

Trump got off easy, with Garland taking forever to appoint a special counsel, without jumping right off with the most obvious crimes, even though nearly the whole world supported quick action.

Now, as Trump retaliates, we can't even wholly count on all judges to simply toss cases out with lightning dispatch and possible sanctions.

Most will. Absolutely. It is that clear.

But some may fish for any reason to stay beholden to Trump, violating clear law in order to stay on the team. It is a dangerous time, these are dark days — as noted, ironically, by former President Biden himself.

Again: under no reading of the law can Biden's pardons be attacked. The only possible crimes could have been committed if someone actually did abuse the autopen to issue documents behind Biden's back.

But that's not the point, is it? It never is to an authoritarian. To the extent there were remaining doubts, we're well past them now. We live in a dictatorship, clear and proud.

Trump sees himself as king — but he is closer to a two-bit, cigar-chomping, uniform-wearing, balcony-strutting war lord. Less royalty, more Saddam. Trump probably wouldn't see that as particularly insulting. The U.S., that "Shining City on the Hill," is now governed by a plain old junta.

Jason Miciak is an American Attorney, former Associate Editor of Occupy Democrats, former Executive Editor of Political Flare, author, and single dad. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, or followed on Twitter or Bluesky.

Dems demand probe as Trump's favorite Biden attack gets turned on him

WASHINGTON — If Republicans want to debate allegedly illegal pardons, Democrats are all in.

After House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) dropped a new report that claims President Joe Biden’s end-of-term pardons should be deemed “void” because they were signed by an autopen, Democrats questioned the get out of jail free cards President Donald Trump doled out to some 1,500 Jan. 6, 2021 rioters after his inauguration this year.

“I hope [the report] will be an analysis by Republicans of Trump's pardon of 1,550 people,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — who received a Biden pardon arising from his work on the House Select Committee on January 6th — told Raw Story.

“He must have a very fast hand to have signed all those, so I look forward to Comer announcing that investigation.”

While Comer and company are looking back to Biden, Schiff and other Democrats say America’s overdue for a discussion about Trump’s own pardon practices.

“Are they gonna go examine all the pardons that Trump did of the January 6 rioters?” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told Raw Story.

“I mean, do you think he actually sat down and he signed every single one of those? I'd be happy to have them review those.”

Republicans aren’t investigating Trump — they’re hungry for retribution instead.

‘Signed and settled’

Throughout U.S. history, presidents of both parties have leaned on autopens to help them sign the stacks of official and unofficial documents that demand their attention daily.

While the Supreme Court has never weighed in on autopens, a 2005 Department of Justice memo went so far as to okay presidential underlings signing official documents on a president’s behalf.

“The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law,” the memo reads.

“Rather, the President may sign a bill within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 [of the Constitution] by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen.”

That’s partly why Democratic senators Raw Story spoke to Wednesday dismissed the Comer report as partisan and legally flawed.

“Look, executives use autopens, with appropriate processes and authorization, all the time,” said Sen. Coons — who fills the seat Biden vacated when he became vice president to Barack Obama in 2009.

“The question isn't, ‘Did Joe Biden actually effectively illegally pardon?’ The question is, ‘Did he follow appropriate procedures for making the decisions, individually documenting them and then authorizing the appropriate person to audit.’”

“How dangerous is it having the party in power trying to negate [past pardons]?” Raw Story asked.

“They're doing a lot to negate things that were signed and settled into law,” Coons said, before using this week’s deadly Caribbean storm as an example.

“A hurricane just roared over Jamaica, and we had appropriated money for disaster assistance and for humanitarian relief, and they shut down USAID, laid off some of the world's most experienced and capable disaster response people, and today our neighbors in Jamaica are waking up without a well-coordinated and robust American response because of it.”

‘A legitimate issue’

Ignoring growing questions about Trump’s fitness for office, Republicans are welcoming Comer’s report.

“I think [Biden’s autopen use is] a legitimate issue the American public cares about,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Raw Story.

“I would ask about whether, you know, all the autopen is legal or not. So I think there ought to be an investigation, and we can make a good decision.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is conducting an investigation of his own.

“It all speaks to the question, ‘Who was in charge?’” he said.

“That's a serious question, and what we're doing in my committee is we're interviewing the constitutional officers — ‘What did you know? What did you see?’ — for the historical record.

“Because if this happens in the future, they've got to realize they have a responsibility to the Constitution. You can't allow somebody who's not capable of fulfilling the awesome duties of President to do this and let somebody else completely unelected, unknown to the American public, run the show.”

Should the American people expect prosecutions?

“Depends on what crimes may have been committed,” Johnson said. “That's all hypothetical about something in the future, but now we should get to the bottom of this. People need to come forward … I always have way more questions than we ever get answers for.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), one of President Trump’s most ardent supporters, was happy to call for investigations and perhaps prosecutions.

Last-minute Biden pardons “should be voided,” Tuberville said. “If they were done by an autopen, I mean, this doesn't seem very constitutional to do it that way.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks with reporters. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

“I'm sure they probably are, yeah,” Tuberville said when asked if pardon recipients, such as his colleague Sen. Schiff, should be investigated by the DOJ.

“That's a huge part of breaking the law, to me, if you're going to do something that notorious, on such an important topic.”

‘Really disturbing’

Crocodile tears are all the GOP’s offering, Senate Democrats said.

“Considering that this President uses pardons to extort from people, I would hope that the Republicans would be more concerned about the use of pardon powers in that way,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told Raw Story, nodding to controversial Trump pardons of powerful financial figures like Changpeng Zhao, the founder of crypto company Binance.

Comer released his report while the federal government is shut down and the U.S. House of Representatives is closed for business.

“[Conspiracies have] already been debunked,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) told Raw Story. “And they should wish they were equally passionate about trying to re-open [the] government and avoid impact to people who rely on nutrition assistance programs.”

Other Democrats are even more blunt when asked about congressional Republicans feeding a sympathetic DOJ fodder to go after the President’s personal, if perceived, enemies.

“I find that really disturbing,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Raw Story.

James Comer faces new pressure in Epstein probe after SCOTUS rejects Maxwell appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal puts House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) under new pressure in the committee's Jeffrey Epstein investigation, according to a new report.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the Oversight Committee's top Democrat, sent a letter Thursday demanding Comer schedule a long-promised deposition with the late Epstein's co-conspirator now that her Supreme Court appeal has been settled, reported NOTUS.

“Maxwell’s crimes and her central role in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation position her as a critical witness with knowledge relevant and fundamental to this Committee’s investigation,” Garcia said in the letter. “Accordingly, and pursuant to the subpoena issued by this committee. I urge you to immediately schedule the deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) led the committee's effort to issue a subpoena to Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year conviction for sex trafficking underage girls, in July, after President Donald Trump's deputy attorney general and former defense attorney interviewed her in prison days before she was transferred to a minimum security prison.

Comer wrote in subpoena cover letter that the committee sought Maxwell’s testimony “to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”

However, the scheduled Aug. 11 deposition was paused at the request of Maxwell's attorneys until after the Supreme Court decided on her appeal, which the justices declined to hear earlier this week, and Trump left the door open to a pardon for his former associate when asked by a reporter.

“Just this week, Donald Trump said he would ‘take a look’ at a pardon for Maxwell, which is disgusting and shameful,” Garcia said in a statement to NOTUS. “The Supreme Court was right to reject her latest attempt to avoid accountability, and now, she must face us for questioning.”

Garcia's letter to Comer indicated that he does not trust Republicans' commitment to fully investigating the Epstein case.

“I hope that you will stand by your statements and uphold the Committee’s commitment to transparency and to the victims of Epstein’s horrific abuse,” Garcia wrote.

'Comer coverup': GOP chairman accused of doing Trump's 'dirty work' on Epstein case

A Democratic lawmaker accused House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) of carrying out a coverup of the Jeffrey Epstein case to protect President Donald Trump from accountability.

The committee released more than 33,000 pages of Epstein-related materials Comer had subpoenaed from the Department of Justice, but his Democratic colleagues say the vast majority of those documents were already public, and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) say the Kentucky Republican was engaged in "dirty work" on behalf of the White House.

"Welcome to the 'Comer coverup,'" Moskowitz said. "You know, I mean, we've been gone for six weeks, he just releases 30,000 pages the day before a vote. He could have released it, you know, over the last six weeks, but they waited just enough, they held these documents from the public, they held on to them so they could release them the day of the petition. Why don't they want the petition to pass? What are they afraid of? What are they hiding?"

"Those are obviously the questions that the American people have, and then you've got James Comer who's in charge of this whole thing," Moskowitz added. "You know, this is a guy who took information from a Chinese informant, he lost an informant, he took Russian disinformation in his last investigation. So this is the 'Comer coverup.' I mean, look, he didn't come up with this idea on his own – he's not that bright – but he's obviously executing the plan that the White House has come up for him."

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have begun collecting signatures on a discharge petition forcing a vote on the full release of the Epstein documents, but Moskowitz said Comer was trying to offer just enough to satisfy the public while shielding the president's alleged involvement with the late financier's crimes.

"Here's what they're going to do," Moskowitz said. "They're going to pass a rule, okay, which we pass every week. We're up here in Congress, when you're in the majority you pass a rule. The rule is what allows the bills to move or resolutions to move for the week. The opposite party always votes against the rule, so whether we were in charge and they were in charge, right, the other side, the minority votes against the rule. In this rule, they put this Epstein thing in there, so they want to say, 'Oh, Democrats are now voting against it.' They want to message that, right? They also want to say, 'Look, all of our Republicans voted for full disclosure.' It's not true. Comer actually is the one who gets to decide what to release, Comer is the one who gets to decide what to redact on his own, and so there is no transparency."

"There are no hearings – where are the hearings?" Moskowitz added. "Bring in the witnesses. He's burying these depositions in the basement so nobody hears from any of these witnesses, and then he's going to issue some report. Comer lost the trust of the American people in his fake faux Biden impeachment scam, and now you got the 'Comer coverup' when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein. He's doing the White House's dirty work, looking for the president's endorsement on his way to trying to become the governor of Kentucky."

Watch below or click here.

- YouTube youtu.be

'We got played again': MAGA turns on House Republicans over 'fake' Epstein files release

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee was promptly ridiculed Tuesday night into Wednesday morning for its release of 33,000 files on Jeffrey Epstein; the vast majority of which, critics have noted, were either redacted or already public.

“Literally 97% of the ‘Epstein files’ just released by the House Oversight Committee were already public,” wrote Evan Kilgore, formally an ambassador for the far-right nationalist group Turning Point USA, in a social media post on X Tuesday to his more than 130,000 followers. “We got played again.”

The Trump administration has faced growing scrutiny in recent months over its handling of its investigation into Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and is alleged to have run a blackmail operation targeting powerful individuals. Amid growing pressure, the House Oversight Committee released a trove of Epstein files Tuesday evening, but its release has only prompted increased scrutiny.

“Oh my god, Republicans just fake released the Epstein files again,” wrote Kyle Kulinski, host of the Kyle Kulinski Show, in a social media post on X to his more than 500,000 followers.

Democratic lawmakers joined in on the pile on as well, with Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, labeling the file drop as a dud, and urging Americans not to consider the matter settled.

“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents [House Oversight Chair and Republican Rep.] James Comer has decided to ‘release’ were already mostly public information,” Garcia said, speaking with the Washington Post in a report published Wednesday.

“To the American people – don’t let this fool you. After careful review, Oversight Democrats have found that 97% of the documents received from the Department of Justice were already public. There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims.”

The Trump administration faced similar criticism back in February, when it released what it called “Phase 1” of the Epstein files to a select-few far-right influencers. Like the House Oversight Committee’s recent file drop, those too were largely already public, and in some cases, more redacted than past releases of the same documents.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has joined with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to circumvent the House Oversight Committee by pursuing a discharge petition, a legislative tool that would force a vote on releasing all files related to Epstein currently held by the Justice Department.

Literally 97% of the "Epstein Files" just released by the House Oversight Committee were already public.

We got played again. pic.twitter.com/c9VcHGiBVN
— Evan Kilgore 🇺🇸 (@EvanAKilgore) September 3, 2025

'I spit my coffee out': Trump ally 'embarrassed' by James Comer's Sunday comment

U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY) on Sunday made a comment that had a fellow MAGA ally spitting out her coffee.

Comer over the weekend appeared on Fox News, where he said he is noticing that Trump has been "more active" on Truth Social, where the president is "encouraging his own Justice Department" to hold people accountable for crimes.

This didn't sit well with Laura Loomer, who has Trump's ear and has even been known to decode his social media posts. She weighed in on Sunday.

"Just now on Fox News, [Comer] said he’s glad President Trump is active on social media encouraging the DOJ to hold people accountable," Loomer wrote, adding a clown emoji. "Uh, why does Trump have to tell his own AG to hold people accountable?"

Loomer continued, saying, "If our AG wasn’t Blondi, maybe people actually would be held accountable."

"Just another indictment of her total incompetence," she then added. "How embarrassing. I spit my coffee out."

Just now on Fox News, @RepJamesComer said he’s glad President Trump is active on social media encouraging the DOJ to hold people accountable.

🤡 uh, why does Trump have to tell his own AG to hold people accountable?

If our AG wasn’t Blondi, maybe people actually would be held…
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 31, 2025

'Absurd!' Newsmax torched by journalist for portraying Ghislaine Maxwell as 'victim'

Journalist Tara Palmeri made it clear Tuesday on MSNBC that Ghislaine Maxwell deserved no sympathy for her association with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell was accused of procuring girls for Epstein that they both sexually abused and trafficked victims, including Virginia Giuffre, one of the first to go public with her accusations.

"I just want to point out again, for anyone who says that Ghislaine deserves any sort of clemency, when Virginia ended up in Epstein's house, it was Ghislaine who took her panties off. That was the first person who touched her. It was Ghislaine who brought her there. It was Ghislaine who found her at Mar-a-Lago."

Palmeri noted Giuffre was never trafficked to Donald Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for a decade.

On Tuesday, Maxwell's attorney told House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) that Maxwell would testify before Congress if she were given immunity.

"I think any sort of idea that Ghislaine was just some sort of, like, victim, as they're saying on Newsmax and other places, is absurd," Palmeri said. "She was a pedophile. She did the exact same thing, and this whole idea that President Trump was upset about it at the time is absurd."

Host Nicolle Wallace asked why "MAGA seems to exonerate Ghislaine Maxwell's sexual abuse of these girls? Are they unaware of it? Do they not believe it? I mean, she sounds like the sexual abuser that Epstein was."

Palmeri answered, "Exactly. It's like they don't want to hear these stories."

Palmeri said she interviewed Epstein victim Annie Farmer, who told her that Maxwell "literally got on the phone with Annie Farmer's mother and convinced her that it was okay for her daughter to go to this ranch, Zorro Ranch, because she had promised them that they were going to pay for the tuition for their daughter. I mean, this is, you know — they preyed on children."

Watch the clip below via MSNBC.

'Foolish': Congress dressed down for giving a 'garbage human being' leverage over them

Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori did not mince words Tuesday on CNN when asked about Ghislane Maxwell's demands for immunity before she considers testifying on Capitol Hill.

Maxwell, who was the girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is serving 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Maxwell's attorneys wrote that their client would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent unless they complied with her demands.

"I have to say to the folks in Congress who helped to create this — this is what happens when you give a criminal — an all-around garbage human being — leverage over you," Khardori told CNN's Brianna Keilar.

"They start creating lists of demands that make you look foolish if you accede to them; they should never have gone down this path. The Justice Department should not be working with her. She has no credibility. She's in prison for 20 years on heinous charges, and she has a whole host of incentives to lie or shade the truth. If I were still in government, I would not trust this woman and I would not touch her with a 10-foot pole."

Keilar asked why Khardori called Maxwell "garbage."

"Because what she did was heinous and awful, and she traumatized many, many young women, and they're going to live with that trauma for the rest of their lives."

Khardori continued, "One of the particularly offensive elements of the Justice Department entertaining this — Republicans in Congress entertaining this — is that she has victims, and those victims have to watch all of this unfold and have to watch them pretending like this woman has some credibility and potentially some information that may be valuable."

President Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. He has called questions about his association with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker, a "hoax" and a "scam" perpetuated by Democrats.

Watch the clip below via CNN.