Tipsheet

POLITICO, WH Comms Alum Slammed for Embarrassing Tweet on Biden Family Bank Statements

Earlier on Wednesday House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) revealed bank statements from the Biden family, including from when now President Joe Biden served as vice president. "According to the memo released by Comer, the Biden family received over $20 million in foreign transactions and the payments were distributed to multiple members," Katie highlighted. "The payments were hidden through shell companies and funneled through Hunter Biden's business partners, including Devon Archer. Archer and Biden earned $6.5 million from Burisma alone." Democrats still found a way to spin it, though, especially former Deputy White House Communications Director Kate Berner, who shared a now deleted POLITICO tweet about the findings. 

The tweet in question was later shared once more, with a note that "For the record: This replaces a deleted tweet that contained incorrect information about payments detailed in the memo."

The report is still up. Although the actual reporting tries to downplay the memo at considerable length, buried at the end is how more is coming:

What’s next: Comer, in a statement on Wednesday, said Republicans “will continue to follow the money trail and obtain witness testimony to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised or corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”

Noteworthy: Committee Republicans, according to the memo, haven’t yet issued subpoenas for Biden family member bank records.

It's also noteworthy that POLITICO cited Democrats, including Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, to accuse Comer as having moved the goalposts. Yet if anyone has done so, that would be how the narrative from the White House continues to change. Initially we were told that Biden hadn’t even spoken with his son about his business dealings. Biden himself insisted from the campaign trail. But then, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, barely able to hide her disdain for the press, went with the narrative that Biden wasn’t involved. When she was called out for and asked about changing the narrative, she denied that it had changed. 

Biden’s fellow Democrats, especially Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, acknowledged that last week’s testimony from Archer revealed that Biden spoke with his son’s business associates, but tried to claim it was about topics such as the weather. 

Now, we’re supposed to believe that this $20 million had nothing to do with the then vice president. 

As we previously covered at the time, Comer had revealed in April that six additional Biden family members "may have benefitted" from the family dealings, bringing the total number to nine members. He's also raised concerns about Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from the Biden bank accounts at six different banks, to the tune of 170 reports. 

Because Berner's tweet is still up as of Wednesday night, so are the replies and quoted retweets chiming in. There's been over 1,000 replies and close to 200 quoted retweets, making for quite the ratio. Our friends at Twitchy covered some of the best responses.