Republicans Don’t Seem Interested In Probing Donald Trump’s Family Business

WASHINGTON – It’s looking like House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) might not investigate corruption allegations against President Donald Trump as vigorously as he did the allegations against former President Joe Biden.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the oversight committee, asked Comer in a letter Tuesday to take a look at Trump’s various financial entanglements. In response, a Comer spokesperson suggested it wouldn’t be a priority, calling Democrats hypocrites.

“Republicans exposed how Joe Biden sold out the American people by allowing his family and their cronies to profit from selling access to his influence, totaling nearly $30 million,” the spokesperson said. “If Democrats truly care about presidential ethics, they must first acknowledge the evidence we uncovered.”

Comer led Republicans’ impeachment inquiry against Biden, scouring the bank accounts and phone records of various family members in search of evidence Biden participated in his brother’s and son’s business deals. Witnesses said Biden occasionally greeted their business partners but didn’t get involved; a financial link proved elusive and the inquiry ultimately went nowhere.

Connolly, recently elected by House Democrats to replace Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as the committee’s ranking member, suggested Comer investigate several Trump family ventures, including the recent launch of a crypto platform backed by foreign investors, as well as his son-in-law’s overseas business deals.

“Jared Kushner’s private equity firm has received billions of dollars in financial investments from Persian Gulf nations with histories of buying political influence in Washington,” Connolly wrote. “Just last month, Jared Kushner disclosed that his firm had raised an additional $1.5 billion from the Qatar Investment Authority and Lunate, a company based in Abu Dhabi.”

Using documents obtained through subpoenas issued before Republicans took control of the House in 2023, Democrats tallied nearly $8 million in spending by foreign governments at Trump’s commercial properties during his first term; money Democrats said violated the Constitution’s ban on presidents receiving gifts from foreign officials.

In his letter Tuesday, Connolly noted that Comer worked with former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) on a bipartisan bill to boost ethics rules for presidents, including by expanding disclosure requirements to family members and in-laws. Connolly and most other committee members didn’t join as cosponsors of that bill but on Tuesday described it as the “gold standard for presidential ethics.” The legislation went nowhere in the last Congress, and it’s unclear if Comer plans to reintroduce it.

Comer once said Kushner’s business activities after serving in the White House during Trump’s first term “crossed the line of ethics,” but has since given no indication he would pursue investigations against Donald Trump or his family. No surprise there: Republicans in Congress prize loyalty to Trump and banish members who don’t go along.

In their statement, Comer’s spokesperson decried the pardons Biden issued to his family members in the last hour of his presidency and demanded Democrats condemn the pardons as well. Some have done so, but most have not.

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