GOP Essence Inundates Media Even During Vacation

Congress has gone home for two weeks, but their essence still pervades the media.

A primary part of the House GOP members’ campaigning for the presidential election of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) is the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, spearheaded by James Comer (R-KY), Oversight Committee chair. In a series of false statements, Comer released a summary of his so-called “proof” for impeaching President Joe Biden:

“Ten different Biden family members … received incremental payments through 20 shell companies that received wires from, from at least five foreign countries that were for services that we have yet to determine. For nearly $30 million. And then according to the IRS whistleblowers, they didn’t pay a penny of taxes on it.”

Comer complained that Biden received $250,000 and “met with all the people who were wiring the Bidens money…. These are bad people in bad countries …, paying for access to Joe Biden.” Plus Biden gave money to Hunter Biden’s spouse, ex-wife, and three minor children.

Although Comer couldn’t identify services “yet to determined,” the 20 shell companies had legitimate business interests. The “five foreign countries” are China, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan (where a businessman bought a Porsche sports car for $142,300) plus Russia where Russian Elena Baturina transferred $3.5 million to Hunter’s business partner Devon Archer but not intended for Hunter. “No taxes” refers to Hunter’s criminal indictment for unpaid taxes which he paid in full within a year and taxes that the president’s brother, Jim, paid one year late.

The $240,000? Repayment for two interest-free loans to Jim Biden. And Biden’s “nefarious” meetings? Handshake greetings and presence at the same table during a meal where Biden may have had a “meet-and-greet.” As for “bad countries,” the U.S. supports Ukraine, and Romania is classified as a “steadfast ally” with having a “strong and wide-ranging bilateral relationship” with Kazakhstan. Russia has a GOP Putin wing.

The National Archives has sent the House Oversight Committee almost 6,000 pages of emails including documents with a pseudonym for Biden, drafts of a speech he delivered to the Ukrainian legislature in 2015, and communications with Hunter Biden and his business associates. This batch is added to the publicly released 20,000 pages related to Hunter’s emails and another 75,000 other pages of records. 

According to HarperCollins, Comer is hawking a book about the impeachment to publishers. A link advertising a possible tell-all the Comer is pitching which Comer demanded be immediately removed. The mockup book cover with the title All the President’s Money was scheduled to be released in September. Comer claims it was a mistake. Despite the Republicans’ failure to find “dirt” on Biden, they plan to pressure Biden over family money ties into 2025—after the election?

Comer also uses his impeachment farce for a fundraiser, insisting that he is nearing victory even after he knew he didn’t have Republican votes. His recent decision to switch to criminal referrals to the DOJ gives him the chance to claim that failure came from politics, not from a nonexistent case. Comer dropped that information in a fundraising email:

“I ask you to take the time to read this email in its entirety. I spent a lot of time writing it and did my best to make every word count. If you don’t read it, nobody will.”

Comer lied when he calls the probe “my investigation” and “presented mountains of evidence confirming Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling scheme, and I just had a group of the Biden family’s business confidants publicly testify about the first family’s criminal activity.” His claim that “Democrats will choose their party over their country and the truth at every turn” is the GOP motivation.  

In a “Hail Mary” attempt, Comer invited Biden to testify before the committee. The seven-page letter that Comer sent to Biden asking for his testimony. Hearing about Comer’s intentions almost two weeks ago, White House spokesman Ian Sams posted “LOL” with a “facepalm” emoji expressing Comer’s embarrassment or frustration. Sams also wrote, “Comer knows 20+ witnesses have testified that POTUS did nothing wrong.” On Sunday’s Meet the Press, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said lawyers for Comer’s committee found “not a specific crime that has been committed.”   

Despite investigating the Bidens, Comer refuses to probe Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) and his family for influence peddling and quid pro quo deals although he admitted that Jared Kushner “crossed the line” by taking $2 billion from Saudi Arabia for his private investment firm. Reps. Jamie Rankin (D-MD), ranking Oversight member, and Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs member, requested a hearing about the situation, especially because Kushner is working on new foreign business deals while DDT is the GOP presidential candidate.

Comer is now considering an attempt to submit criminal referrals to the DOJ to escape the embarrassment. The strategy would be even more embarrassing: unable to convince their GOP colleagues of any Biden crime, Comer would find the task impossible for seasoned attorneys.

Comer’s own history is worth a book. For political purposes, he stole a server from the law firm of a former partner and leaked hacked materials to a newspaper about an ex-girlfriend accusing him of abuse to make his 2015 gubernatorial primary opponent look bad. Angry about being called a liar, the girlfriend provided a reporter at The Louisville Courier-Journal her four-page story in which she accused Comer of hitting her and taking her to a clinic for an abortion, information corroborated by her then-roommate. Although he denied the account, Comer lost to Matt Bevin by 83 votes. Bevin became governor.

Comer also has a new shell company, Gamaliel Stargazer LLC, to replace another, Farm Team Properties LLC, that twice lapsed in its filings with the state. The second time, he changed the description of “finance, insurance, real estate” with no explanation to “agricultural production – crops” although the property is residential and commercial real estate. His failure to identify specific individual properties violate the House ethics rules, and the number of properties on financial disclosures about the old LLC didn’t match Comer’s public statements. On Fox, he said he owned five properties through the company, but county records listed only two.

One of the two properties in the former shell company is now tied to his new entity. He bought that property from his brother, giving him a check for $218,000. Comer has insinuated that multiple LLCs are criminal and that Biden companies serve “no purpose,” yet like Comer’s company, they have business functions such as investment management, legal representation, and consulting work. Comer’s only description for the new LLC is engaging in “outside business activities,” and his “books and records” are opaque, a charge he made against Biden. Revenue from the shell company are “none.” Altogether, the new LLC may violate state law.

Far-right House extremists are also furious that the $1.2 trillion spending bill passed with the help of Democrats didn’t push their non-spending agenda. Only one of 40 GOP anti-LGBTQ+ riders was part of the 2024 budget, blocking Pride flags at U.S. embassies in foreign countries.

The racist Republicans succeeded in defunding the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). The so-called “majority” of white males in the U.S. is left at under 30 percent, leaving minorities and women covered by DEI at over 70 percent of the population.

Containing the word “woke” in 180 pages, recommendations from the 170-member House Republican Study Committee include far more than eliminating some Social Security and Medicare benefits in the 2025 budget. It abolishes the National Labor Relations Board, provides subsidies for oil companies, opposes a carbon tax, expands oil and gas projects on federal lands, prohibits federal subsidies for high-speed rail, defunds the Environmental Protection Agency, and reduces funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It also defunds gun regulations such as red flag provision and passes anti-choice bills, outlawing the use of abortion medication. The proposal, however, spends money for a wall at the southern border.

Republicans also don’t want to feed children at school by preventing universal free school meals, now offered in eight states and considered by another 26. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. GOP members call it “widespread fraud” because recipients might have money to pay. The GOP also eliminates nutrition standards. Republicans call “kids eating lunch” one of the biggest drains on public funding as they search for compensation for the trillions lost from tax cuts for the wealthy and big business.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) badly wants to be DDT’s vice president and said that the federal government “should not be involved in elections” when Fox host Maria Bartiromo’s asked what he is “doing to ensure a transparent and free election in November.” Donalds launched into fearmongering with the lie that New York allows “illegal aliens” to participate in elections. The idea violates the constitution and would keep DDT’s name off the ballot in some states.

Donalds hasn’t always supported DDT; in 2011 he celebrated when DDT decided not to run against former President Barack Obama and wrote that DDT “cares more about himself than the country.” Donalds was right then but not now.

Impeachment, Other Tidbits

A footnote to President Joe Biden’s impeachment debacle from Jonathan Last: 

Reasons for former impeachments:

• Nixon: Directed employees to break into the offices of political rivals.
• Clinton: Committed perjury.
• Trump 1: Threatened to withhold military aid to an ally unless the foreign leader fabricated lies about Trump’s political rival.
• Trump 2: Summoned and directed an armed mob to attack the Capitol with the purpose of stopping the Electoral Vote count.

And the GOP perspective of reason for Biden’s inquiry by Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) when asked what specific constitutional crime: “High crimes, misdemeanors, and bribery.” Asked which ones, he said, “Look, once I get time, I will explain what we’re looking at.” Earlier, however, Reschenthaler had called the inquiry a “political exercise.” In recent interviews, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said that the GOP is “not electing the best and brightest.”

The bottom line for the impeachment came from Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) when asked what he’s hoping to gain:

“All I can say is Donald J. Trump 2024, baby.”

Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Oversight Committee, told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo that the most damning evidence against Biden are his shell companies which are for money-laundering, but Comer has his own shell company worth $1 million that he co-owns with his wife for land he bought in 2015 with a longtime campaign contributor. Comer’s response to questions from a Democratic representative in a hearing about the company was to call him a “smurf” and say that the criticism was the kind of thing “only dumb, financially illiterate people pick up on.” Using the shell company, Comer hides his stake in the land, and his financial disclosure forms states no details for Farm Team Properties beyond his wife’s “land management and real estate speculation” company.

Questioned on Fox network, Comer said only that the company “has five different assets and lots of revenue.” He failed to list assets on the financial disclosure forms and lied that his co-owner of the land “wasn’t a campaign contributor” when the property was purchased. Darren Cleary, his businesses, and his family have donated $70,000 to Comer’s campaigns since 2010.

Unfortunately for Comer, he has no evidence for his long-debunked claims about Biden’s shell companies.

The gag order by Justice Arthur Engoron in the New York business fraud case against Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) stands, according to the state Supreme Court. It prevents DDT from making remarks about Engoron’s staff. The trial wrapped up on December 14 just hours before a man, believed to be a litigant, set fire to a stack of papers in the courthouse.

The damages case against DDT’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Washington, D.C. has also wrapped up, and the jury has begun to deliberate. The judge already ruled that Giuliani is guilty of defamation toward two Georgia election workers; the trial determines damages that he must pay. Guiliani decided that he would not testify on his own behalf.

The House definitely has its priorities in order. On Wednesday, the entire chamber voted on impeachment before they defended milk. The argument was whether whole milk should be allowed back into the school lunch program. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) used Santa Claus in defense of whole milk so that he would have “only the most nutritional option … to travel the whole globe in one night.” She rejected the argument from Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) that nearly all major public health organization agrees that low-fat and fat-free milk are the healthiest options for children because whole milk is higher in saturated fat. Foxx retorted:

“Scientists slash experts designed the Titanic … experts built the Titanic, and amateurs built the Arc.”

Foxx also ridiculed the idea that soy milk would be better and more easily digestible than whole milk:

“It is not milk. It is a plant-based food,” she said. “It isn’t milk, so you can’t call it soy milk. You can call it ‘soy drink.’”

Later Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) lambasted almond milk, claiming that “milk comes from a mammal.” The GOP aim to eliminate the free school lunch program makes milk a moot point.

On their last workday of 2023, just before House members 3.5-week vacation, they passed the Senate $886 billion defense policy bill, 310-118, although many conservative provisions were stripped. Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s expedited approach required a two-thirds majority; 73 Republicans and 45 Democrats opposed the bill meaning more Dems than GOP members voted for it. The biggest bone of contention was the four-month renewal of warrant-less surveillance powers for some people in the U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) forced a vote to adjourn the House before the vote but failed. Congress still needs to allocate funding in a full-year appropriation bill for the Pentagon. The bill does, however, authorize $300 million for Ukraine, $14.7 billion to boost U.S. presence in the Pacific to guard against China, and a 5.2 percent pay raise for military personnel. Once again Johnson learned that the nation’s business cannot proceed with Democratic votes.

As a candidate to fill the vacancy left by George Santos’ expulsion, the New York GOP will likely select Mazi Melesa Pilip, a former paratrooper of the Israeli defense, as its nominee. She is a registered Democrat. Former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who defeated Santos in 2020, is the Democratic nominee

While the GOP-led House scooted home on December 14, the Senate plans to continue work to avert the shutdown. On Monday, senators return to negotiate a border deal, necessary to release aid for Ukraine before their holiday. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said they “should stay and get the job done” for something that “is important and urgent.” Other priorities are reauthorization of Federal Aviation Administration funding, and nominations, including appointments for four-star military promotions still held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). Because the FAA bill was due by the end of 2023, the House passed a continuing resolution, 376-15, setting March 8 for its fiscal cliff, but Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) has put a hold on that bill in the Senate to obtain more assistance for Ukraine.

Diving into the abortion controversy again, the Supreme Court will hear the case on whether to return access to mifepristone, the drug that the FDA approved almost 25 years ago and now the most commonly used and safest prescription for medication abortions. DDT-appointed district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended its use last spring, and the 5^th Circuit Court reinstated only part of its access. The court will target FDA actions since 2016 to create easier access such as ordering it by mail.

The Supreme Court refused to put on hold the Illinois law banning high-power semiautomatic-style weapons, leaving the law intact when it starts on January 1. A three-judge panel of the 7^th Circuit Court voted 2-1 to preserve the law.  

Republicans may greatly suffer from their far-right hardline position on abortion in the next election. GOP politicians are trying to avoid questions about the Texas case in which Katie Cox was forced to carry a fetus, with a fatal disorder, to full term even if it damaged her future fertility or even killed her. Both Texas GOP senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, couldn’t cite any concerns. Cornyn said he wouldn’t comment because he wasn’t a state official, and Cruz repeatedly told reporters to call his office—which didn’t respond. As their constituent, Cox deserved their help, and the two senators aren’t usually reluctant to give their opinions about issues across the U.S.

Republicans claim that their draconian laws still include exceptions for the health of the pregnant woman, but they aren’t living up to that claim or law. If “life-threatening” or “substantial impairment” doesn’t apply to Cox, who would qualify?

Texas businesses are not as silent. The abortion ban is creating problems for recruiting, and 51 businesses signed onto an amicus brief filed by in-house counsel in support of 22 women suing the state over the abortion ban, 20 of them declaring they were denied medically necessary abortions because doctors feared legal consequences. Texas’ ban is after a heartbeat at six weeks which is actually a noise from the ultrasound because the embryo doesn’t have a heart at that time. After that time, the law requires an abortion to be medically necessary, a vague term that Texas has not recognized.

Although Texas Republicans want businesses to move to the state, the amicus brief cites prospective transplants refusing to move to the state because they want to start a family and organizations not holding conferences. In other research, almost half the young women in nine battleground states consider or plan to move to a state with “comprehensive protections” for reproductive health care, and almost two-thirds of college-educated workers nationwide would not consider a job in a state with abortion restrictions. The abortion ban is costing Texas $15 billion a year because qualified candidates go elsewhere, and businesses in the state must pay more to provide travel for reproductive healthcare outside the state. Although Texas’ cut-off time is six weeks, genetic testing for fetal anomalies don’t begin until later, such as the one for trisomy 18 which will kill Cox’s fetus.  

Texas AG Ken Paxton is satisfied with the state Supreme Court’s decision, but he’s targeting three court of criminal appeal judges up for reelection out of revenge for their 2021 ruling that struck down Paxton’s ability to unilaterally prosecute voter fraud. Instead, his office must have permission from local county prosecutors to take these cases. Paxton is also determined to retaliate against Texas House members who voted to impeach him last May.

Growing Disasters Face DDT

The U.S. has finally found its election fraud—the continuing attempt by Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) to rig the election in his favor by coercing Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into giving him the votes he needed to win the state. “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” a desperate DDT told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a telephone call on January 2, 2021, lasting over an hour. According to DDT, that number is just one more than he needs to take the state’s vote from President-elect Joe Biden.

During his rambling narrative, DDT begged, flattered, threatened, cajoled, and berated Raffensperger while the state secretary of state and his office’s general counsel refuted DDT’s conspiracy theories of election fraud. In demanding those 11,780 votes for himself, DDT told Raffensperger that he should just “recalculate” because he’s a Republican. Raffensperger refused, and the next day DDT smeared him with false accusations. Georgia has made three recounts, one by hand, and audited the signature match system, proving it is 99.9 percent accurate. Acting like a mob boss, DDT told Raffensperger he was taking a “big risk” in not overturning the vote in his favor.

Because most of the media released under five minutes of the hour-long call, DDT angrily tweeted about the missing remainder of the call. The entire call, however, is at the Boston Globe. David Shafer, Georgia GOP chair, said DDT is filing charges against Raffensperger, stating that leaking the call violates both state and federal law.

Neal Katyal, former DOJ Principal Deputy Solicitor General, has called for a criminal investigation by the DOJ. He also finds DDT’s telephone call an impeachable offense because it’s an abuse of power, using “the power of his office to stay in office to try and browbeat other officials that disagree with them.”

In The Guardian, Helen Sullivan listed six key points of DDT’s telephone call:

1. Trump sought to change the election result.
2. Trump tried to intimidate Raffensperger.
3. Trump applied pressure over Georgia runoffs, by saying Raffensperger would harm the election for two GOP senators in Tuesday’s election if he didn’t give DDT the votes.
4. Raffensperger continued to stand up to Trump.
5. Trump may have committed a crime.
6. Trump refused to back down.

Chief of staff Mark Meadows, also on the call, said he hoped Raffensperger would, in a “spirit of cooperation and compromise,” find a path to overturn Georgia’s certified election results already counted two times, once with a hand count. Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher called the recording “perhaps the most remarkable piece of audio that has come out of the Oval Office of the White House since the Nixon tapes in the 1970s.” DDT begged/demanded his votes 19 times during the call, once every three minutes, one time saying, “Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”

DDT’s week leading up to this telephone call was also horrible for him. He returned early from Mar-a-Lago, ostensibly to develop a strategy with Congress to say in the Oval Office for another four years, but perhaps because he didn’t receive the same adulation as before he lost the election. His arrival in Washington, D.C. came while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was blocking DDT’s personal demand for $2,000 stimulus checks and moving forward to overturn DDT’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

In a highly unusual Senate session on New Year’s Day, while many people were recovering from the previous evening’s festivities, the Senate overturned DDT’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 81-13—two yes votes fewer than the original vote of 83-14. The House vote to overturn the veto, 335-78, was less than the first—322-87—because people like Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) refused to disagree with his boss’s veto. The over two-thirds vote in both chambers makes the current law the 60^th consecutive one and the first time in DDT’s almost four-year term Republicans were brave enough to override a DDT veto.

DDT threatened to veto the NDAA if it renamed ten military bases honoring Confederate officials. Then he said he wanted the repeal of the liability shield for social media companies. In 17 days, he can no longer tweet incitement violence and conspiracy theories on Twitter after losing his immunity a a “leader” and wants to sue the company if it gets in his way. His next objection was vague protests about not controlling China.

The law, however, contains restrictions disturbing DDT, including those on moving the military construction budget through emergency orders as he did to get his wall and a president’s ability to arbitrarily pull troops from foreign countries. DDT had announced he would pull service members from Afghanistan and threatened to do the same in Germany.  

The NDAA contains a provision possibly even even worse for DDT. It outlaws anonymous shell companies to help the U.S. in its battle against money laundering and terrorist financing. The new Corporate Transparency Act requires a report filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) identifying all beneficial owners and applicants forming a company registered to do business in the U.S. These people either own 25 percent or more of the company or exercise substantial control over it. Companies already subject to supervision or closely regulated by the federal government are excluded as are companies with more than 20 employees, $5 million in revenue, and a physical presence in the U.S. Private-equity and hedge-fund sector lobbying obtained other exemptions such as domestic investment funds advised and operated by a registered investment adviser.

The Act also protects whistleblowers who provide information to the authorities about the companies’ activities.

A shell company exists only on paper, has no employees, and makes or sells no products. It may not even have revenue—just a bank account and some assets to make it look legit. Anonymous shell companies are used to secretly move money through corruption and other criminal activities, thus making the work of compliance officials and law enforcement more difficult. A recent FinCen Files investigation found no one could discover who was behind the $2 trillion dollars moving through shell companies. The Tax Justice Network ranks the U.S. as second most secretive jurisdiction in the world, behind only the Cayman Islands and ahead of Switzerland, known for extreme secrecy in banking. Luxury real estate in wealthy New York and Miami locations rival Swiss bank accounts for rich clients. Journalists investigating leaked documents from FinCen discovered shell companies moving money for criminals operating out of Russia, China, Iran, and Syria.

Almost 2 million corporations and LLCs are registered each year at the state level in the U.S., and few states require companies to list actual owners. Delaware and a few others use anonymous companies for big business. Tax cheats deprive governments worldwide of $427 billion a year.

Shell companies allow criminals in the U.S. to easily evade taxes, launder money, and make illegal payoffs. Because social media doesn’t know who is buying advertising, shell companies are very popular in politics. DDT and his family have made use of shell companies when his fixer Michael Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels and Jared Kushner siphoned almost $700 million from DDT’s campaign donations. That’s likely the tip of the iceberg. Of the approximately 500 LLCs DDT put on his 2018 financial disclosure, including Mar-a-Lago, over half were registered in Delaware which doesn’t require reporting financial information or the owner’s identity.

Another report about the incompetence and illegality of his appointees in HHS came out this week, starting when Tom Novotny was fired as Assistant Surgeon General soon after DDT’s inauguration. His adviser, Joshua Prasad, went days later after his email announcing Novotny’s send off party, “The End of Science and Medicine.” That firing was used as an example, and more fired people are telling about legal and ethical violations although they were warned to be quiet. The department’s lack of abilities, so obvious during the COVID-19 crisis, began years ago with the tension from undermining the mission and trust of HHS. Political appointees from conservative religious groups also destroyed successful programs such as reducing pregnancy among teenage girls. They also wasted money by paying outside consultants doing the work of career officials, required prayer at meetings, and pushed their personal and political ideologies on career staff. The result is a completely demoralized department.

Coming up this week: a runoff against two incumbent GOP senators in Georgia where DDT has convinced most Republicans that it’s useless to vote; the reading of the electoral votes in an environment where over 20 percent of senators and over half the representatives support DDT’s overturning the vote in favor of DDT and plan to stall the process; the congressional joint session presided over by VP Mike Pence who “welcomes” the overturn of the legal vote of the people; potential violence in the nation instigated by DDT to protest the legal vote; far more deaths from COVID-19; and whatever chaos DDT creates.