Several figures in right-wing media are once again trying to create a controversy around President Joe Biden and his family, this time with a claim by House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) that Biden received $200,000 in bribes from his younger brother and sister-in-law in 2018, prior to his presidency. However, a White House spokesperson explained — and the check itself shows — that the money was a loan repayment to the senior Biden, who was a private citizen at the time.
On Friday, October 20, the congressman’s office put out a press release titled “Comer Releases Evidence of Direct Payment to Joe Biden.” The evidence in question is a personal check of $200,000 from the now-president’s younger brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden clearly marked as “loan repayment.” Comer used this check -- and the fact that James Biden took a loan at the time from hospital operator Americore and repaid his elder brother with that money -- to claim that there are “questions” that Joe Biden “must answer for the American people.”
However, even in his own statement, Comer tacitly acknowledged that he had no evidence this check signaled a corrupt action, as he stated, “Even if this was a personal loan repayment, it’s still troubling that Joe Biden’s ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family’s shady financial dealings.”
Some right-wing media figures, like Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley and Murdoch property The New York Post, have jumped on the story as further proof of the president’s supposed corruption.
On the Sunday edition of Fox & Friends Weekend, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy discussed the story with Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz, saying Comer had “really come through in a big way.” She questioned, “Why aren’t Democrats embarrassed of this and joining in getting rid of this corruption?” Chaffetz responded, blaming the “national media,” saying they lacked “intellectual curiosity” and claiming that “Comer is producing” evidence as “he can show checks at this point.”
But apart from mentioning vague buzzwords like “e-mails, suspicious activity reports, … photographs, secret service logs,” Chaffetz -- and Campos-Duffy -- failed to articulate how a check marked “loan repayment” shows that the president is embroiled in a vast corruption scandal.