this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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politics

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Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings on congressional financial disclosure documents – roughly 1,600 acres in all.

But there are six acres that he bought in 2015 and co-owns with a longtime campaign contributor that he has treated differently, transferring his ownership to Farm Team Properties, a shell company he co-owns with his wife.

Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer’s central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. For months, the chairman of the House Oversight committee and his Republican colleagues have been pounding Biden for how his relatives traded on their famous name to secure business deals.

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[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 109 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Hey, since both sides are bad, let’s criminally investigate every public office holder and throw anyone that’s done anything illegal ever into jail. Jaywalked to get to the cafe? Jail. Sped to get to the strip club and not a government activity? Jail.

Glass houses man.

[–] Kilnier@lemmy.ca 44 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Mandatory minimums for those who break the public trust. Harsh ones.

[–] ApostleO@startrek.website 25 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Bump all punishments up by a tier for elected officials.

Capital offense is still a capital offense.

Life in prison becomes a capital offense.

Long prison becomes life in prison.

Short prison becomes long prison.

Large fine becomes short prison.

Small fine becomes large fine.

I also think we should make a law that says any elected official making a public statement is assumed to be under oath to tell the truth, and provably false statements made by public officials in an official capacity should be punished as harshly as perjury in court.

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

And make all fines % based because as they say, flat fines are only punishments for the poor

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Ooh, I'd love that public statements count as oath one :-D

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Let's just remove everyone from office and restart with new votes

[–] Jack@lemmy.ca 10 points 11 months ago

“Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents, and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and American universities; and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: garbage in, garbage out. […] If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public.” - George Carlin https://piped.video/watch?v=cBrbXOmnW70

[–] CobblerScholar@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (3 children)

In principle sure but good God can you imagine that election cycle

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Spoiler: everyone gets reelected.

[–] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

My retinas are burning from just thinking about all the ads

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 0 points 11 months ago

As if it's any worse than how it is now....

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 11 months ago

This is a great idea and nominate myself to be your new dictator. I fully promise to crush peoples' rights. Which group of people? My plan is to throw a dart at wheel to make my determination.

I fully promise to grift and bankrupt this beautiful country. When it comes to my eventual end of my term limit, I promise either to resign and enjoy my unimaginable amount of wealth or die in a bloody coup plunging this wonderful country into a decades long civil war.

Remember to vote for me in November 2024.

[–] toastus@feddit.de 6 points 11 months ago

Overcook undercook.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 3 points 11 months ago

Drain the swamp?

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

If only, after shattering glass houses, we could get some politicians to build proper ones.

"I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll throw stones into your sorry glass house."

But the sixty-third little piggy actually lived a life of honesty, so the wolf had to raise a mob to burn down the good piggy's house.

Once he was back in power, the wolf quickly made laws to make it impossible to live other than in a glass house. Then he felt equal again.

...oops, that story didn't end up quite as I planned.

[–] vitamin@infosec.pub 54 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The coverage angered the former girlfriend, who wrote a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal in which she asserted that Comer had hit her and that their relationship had been “toxic.” She also told the newspaper that Comer became “enraged” in 1991 after he learned she had used his name on a form she submitted before receiving an abortion at a Louisville clinic.

Why am I not even a little surprised?

[–] ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Where's that form, let's end his ass

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 36 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The cons don't care about hypocrisy.

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 11 months ago

To them there is no hypocrisy

They're part of the in group protected by laws not bound by them, other people are part of the out group bound by laws not protected by them.

[–] SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh weird, that projecting thing again.

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 9 points 11 months ago

They only have the creativity to accuse people of crimes they are intimately familiar with.

[–] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

This is so shocking, next you’re gonna tell me he’s closet gay but voted against gay rights!

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 19 points 11 months ago

have been pounding Biden for how his relatives traded on their famous name to secure business deals.

I know of someone else who does that!

[–] JunkMilesDavis@kbin.social 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As true as it all may be, these guys seem to absolutely thrive on their own hypocrisy. I don't think they would let the fact that they stink ten times as bad stop them from going after anyone else.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

Well yeah, in-groups and out-groups and all that. They relish on going after enemies for things that we all know they do themselves. They want to reinforce that the rules apply to them differently, and make sure all US common folk know our place.

The modern Republican Party wants to turn this country into an Oligarchy, just like Russia, because their leaders think they will be the Oligarchy when it happens.

[–] grte@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 months ago

Apropos of nothing but I've seen Rep. Comer in a few interviews and he has the most pig-like visage of anyone I've ever seen. Like, if a witch were to curse a pig to become a man James Comer would be the result.

[–] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm not seeing anything illegal listed here? Is the lack of disclosure a legal problem or a loophole he's exploiting? Seems more like the latter.

Regardless, it does not actually change anything about Hunter. They can both break the law or not and it's not dependent on each other.

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Accurate. If Hunter Biden broke the law, he should face the consequences. If Comer broke the law, he should face the consequences. It's illegal to use political office for personal gain, so definitely not a loophole if he's treating donors differently in his political decisions.

I will note only one of them is being investigated for prosecution, though.

[–] TechyDad@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also worth noting: only one of them holds elected office.

Did Hunter Biden break the law? If the indictments against him are true, then yes he did. But I'm not voting for Hunter Biden in 2024. He's not running.

"His son broke the law so Joe Biden must be guilty too" isn't anywhere close to enough to base an impeachment on.

[–] evatronic@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It should be obvious it's not about reality.

It's about being able to say "Biden was impeached" repeatedly in the news during an election year.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 1 points 11 months ago

Honestly I'm kind of surprised they don't just say it without bothering to actually impeach him.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer’s central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.

In particular, Comer has attacked some Biden family members, including the president’s son Hunter, over their use of “shell companies” that appear designed to obscure millions of dollars in earnings they received from shadowy middlemen and foreign interests.

But as Comer works to “deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand” through the GOP’s investigation, his own finances and relationships have begun to draw notice, too, including his ties to prominent local figures who have complicated pasts not all that dissimilar to some of those caught up in his Biden probe.

“It seems pretty clear to me that he should be disclosing the individual land assets that are held by” the shell company, said Delaney Marsco, a senior attorney who specializes in congressional ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington.

Comer created the company in 2017 to hold his stake in the six acres that he purchased two years earlier in a joint venture with Darren Cleary, a major campaign contributor and construction contractor from Monroe County, Kentucky, where the congressman was born and raised.

As evidence, he has pointed to a long career as a state legislator and official who sought to build bridges with Democrats and to “clean up scandal, restore confidence, and crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse.”


The original article contains 1,831 words, the summary contains 250 words. Saved 86%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] dugmeup@lemmynsfw.com -5 points 11 months ago

Let's see Merrick fucking I'm so neutral Garland setup an Independent enquiry panel for this.

Bullshit neutral AG. He needs to go.