James Comer

Is Biden’s autopen mightier than the sword?

Whom do you suppose wrote this: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false”?  The one person I can assure you did not write it is its supposed author, former president Joseph R. Biden, who by the way is suffering from metastatic prostate cancer.  Moreover, pace Biden’s suggestions, it is clear that he did not sign many of the myriad “pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations” issued over his name.

The ‘Senate Twink’ lands in Oz

A surprising item from Down Under: Aidan Maese-Czeropski, the former Senate staffer who was fired after he and his partner filmed themselves in flagrante delicto on Amy Klobuchar’s desk in Hart 216, has resurfaced in Australia after touring the world. Maese-Czeropski gave an interview to the Gay Sydney News about the fallout from his December 2023 rendezvous – which readers of this newsletter were the first to learn about. Maese-Czeropski, who worked as a legislative assistant for then-senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, says he spent “a little bit in the psych ward” after his firing, before moving to Sydney by way of South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean. https://www.instagram.

Senate Twink Aidan Maese-Czeropski

Colombia yields to Trump’s tariff threats

President Donald Trump and Colombian president Gustavo Petro feuded yesterday over the return of immigrants living illegally in the US, but after Trump’s threats of tariffs, Petro agreed to send his own plane to pick up the criminals. Trump’s plans to return the immigrants back to their country of citizenship were temporarily thwarted by Petro, who denied the flights permission to land. He claimed he rejected the repatriation flights because of the lack of “dignity and respect” shown to these Colombians, as they would have arrived on military planes while handcuffed. Petro stated, “We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.

Chicago at a crossroads

America’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, is already taking his job more seriously than his predecessor ever did. Unlike Kamala Harris, Homan does not need to be goaded into doing the job assigned to him by the president. Homan, the former director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is already hitting the trail, telling prospective illegal immigrants to turn the caravans around and warning America’s bluest cities that a new sheriff is coming to town. During a swing through Chicago, Homan told the Windy City’s residents that “your mayor sucks and your governor sucks.” Both Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker have suggested that they plan to resist President-elect Donald Trump’s broadly popular immigration plans.

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hunter biden

Will the GOP hold Hunter Biden in contempt?

As House Republicans prepared to launch a formal impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, his son showed up to Congress, defied a duly issued congressional subpoena and effectively gave Republicans the middle finger. Blocks from where Hunter Biden held an obstinate press conference with his Secret Service detail in tow, the House Republicans hosted a media row to lay out the case for why they backed today’s impeachment inquiry vote, which received near unanimous support. Representative Tom Emmer, the House’s number three Republican, told me that the younger Biden “made the case for us this morning. Hunter Biden is not above the law.

Santos kicked out of Congress

The House of Representatives kicked out its only Jew-ish member today, sending George Santos into the pages of history as one of only a handful of House members to be booted from the body. Former congressman Santos had an eventful second wedding anniversary yesterday, as he held a feisty, fiery press conference to proclaim his innocence — but declined to ask any of his colleagues to defend him against the latest charges. This third attempt at expulsion proved to be the charm for Santos’s foes, who rode the wave of an almost-comedic House Ethics report that alleged Santos spent donor dollars on everything from OnlyFans subscriptions (which he somewhat denied) to Botox (which he basically confirmed).

Ronald Reagan haunts the second debate

Let me tell you a ghost story. We are, after all, only a month out from Hallowe’en. It’s about a titan of American politics, who reshaped the nation’s, and the West’s, history over the tail-end of the last century. His leadership helped thaw the Cold War and transform the country’s languishing economy. And now, four decades later, his specter still looms large over the party he recalibrated. Tonight, the GOP’s undercard contenders will clash at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. And you can be darn sure his name will come up a lot.In last month’s debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, America’s 40th president was the subject of one of many flashpoints between former VP Mike Pence and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

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Why does Hunter Biden matter?

Democrats constantly downplay Hunter Biden’s troubles and any felonies he might have committed. The legacy media avoid them entirely. What do they say when they can’t bury the story? Their most common defense is also their most important: Hunter Biden’s troubles matter only if they can be linked directly to his father and specifically to Joe’s official position. So far, they say, those links are weak and unproven. What other defenses do they put forward? First, they say that whatever money Hunter made from his foreign business dealings, he did not benefit from any official action taken by the vice president. Neither did Joe himself. Those points are crucial. Second, it’s not a crime to benefit from your family name.

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The bipartisan stench in Washington

It’s hard not to weep for the Republic as trust in our institutions collapses — and collapses for good reasons. Washington cannot retain public confidence when the frontrunners in both parties represent the dregs of public life and are credibly charged with serious malfeasance; when those charges have surrounded both parties’ presidential nominees in every election since 2016 and do so again for 2024.

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Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax misdemeanors

Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and has struck a deal with federal prosecutors over a felony gun charge. According to a court filing released by US Attorney David Weiss on Tuesday, Biden was charged with two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax” and for “possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.”  Weiss, who has overseen the federal probe into Biden’s taxes since 2018, has agreed to recommend probation for Biden’s tax violations and it is unlikely he will serve jail time for either his tax and gun charges, according to the Washington Post. If Biden complies with the terms of his pretrial diversion, he could have the gun charge removed from his record in two years.

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There’s malarkey aplenty in the Bidens’ shell game

“Because that’s where the money is.” That was the answer that Willie Sutton, an expert in his chosen field, gave when asked why he robbed banks. Maybe the Bidens, Joe and Hunter, should consider employing a kindred candor about their business activities in Romania, Ukraine and elsewhere back when Joe was Obama’s VP.   So far, they have been disappointing on that score. Here’s the state of play: an FBI whistleblower revealed the existence of a complicated bribery scheme that allegedly funneled millions of dollars into the Bidens’ coffers via a network of at least twenty shell companies set up to launder the dough.

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Hunter Biden is running out of time

We've come a long way in the two and a half years since the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop were unleashed on the world. In addition to the splashy, X-rated photos and videos of Hunter surrounded by drugs and prostitutes, the New York Post's reporting honed in on a set of emails that suggested Hunter's foreign business dealings involved his father, President Joe Biden. In one email, an official for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma thanks Hunter for the "opportunity" to meet then-Vice President Biden. In another, Hunter's business partner alludes to setting aside 10 percent of a deal with a Chinese firm for "the Big Guy." These bombshells served as the flashpoint for a series of investigations that are finally nearing their conclusion.

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