Trump’s possible arrest is an ‘effort to distract’ from Hunter Biden: Comer

House of Representatives Republican James Comer said on Sunday the rumored arrest of former President Donald Trump was an attempt to distract from investigations into President Joe Biden’s family, including Hunter Biden.

Trump said Saturday morning he expected to be arrested Tuesday as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s investigation into his alleged 2016 “hush money” scheme. Trump is accused of illegally paying the adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair between the two. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, has already pleaded guilty to his involvement in the scheme and served time in prison, while Trump has denied the case.

Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently took several steps in the investigation that legal experts say signal his intention to move forward with a criminal indictment against Trump. It would be the first such indictment against a former president in US history.

Although Trump’s representatives have since played down the idea that he received official notices of a potential arrest, reaction to his claims was swift and generally toed party lines. Trump’s critics and opponents have said that legal accountability for his various alleged crimes is crucial, despite any political backlash that may follow. Supporters, meanwhile, said an arrest would be further evidence that the justice system is being weaponized against the former president by political rivals.

Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, echoed those latest sentiments when asked about the situation during a Sunday appearance on Fox News. Comer went further, saying the potential arrest appeared to him to be an effort to distract from his committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s alleged ties to China.

“Well, it’s very strange that this came out just the next day after I revealed bank statements that showed the Biden family, the president in particular, didn’t tell the truth about his family receiving payments directly from the Chinese Communist Party Party,” Comer said. “So it almost feels like an effort to harm. [sic]”

The congressman continued, “But at the very least, this is another example of a two-tier justice system,” he noted. “Look, we looked at these classified documents. We saw the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago for a set of allegedly mishandled classified documents. But yet Joe Biden had at least five different locations of mishandled classified documents. . And they give him days and days to go clean up with his lawyer.”

On Thursday, Comer, in his capacity as chairman of the oversight committee, released a memo alleging Hunter Biden and at least two others close to the president received a $1.3 million payment from a Hunter associate who was affiliated to a Chinese energy company. in March 2017, Rob Walker. While that payment had been public knowledge for at least a year, Comer said he was concerned about new information regarding payments made to Hallie Biden — the widow of Beau Biden, the president’s deceased son — given his profession as a school counselor.

Meanwhile, committee Democrats told NBC News on Thursday that the claims presented by Comer misrepresent the timing of Hallie Biden’s payments, since one was made to her before Walker received the money from the Chinese company.

Hunter Biden’s legal representatives also pointed out that the payment came from his business interest in “a private, legitimate energy company in China,” not the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as Comer alleged on Fox News. They also stressed that the case had no connection to President Biden.

Newsweek contacted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office via email for comment.