'The Chief Inspector Dreyfus of the 118th Congress'
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an excerpt from Milbank's Washington Post column. The querulous congressman from Kentucky is a member of what pundit Charles Pierce calls the "Angry Children's Caucus." The "Union Busting Caucus" works, too.
By DANA MILBANK
Probe of Hunter Biden’s laptop already needs a reboot
Rep. James Comer is rapidly establishing himself as the Chief Inspector Dreyfus of the 118th Congress.
First, the newly installed chairman of the House Oversight Committee said he would investigate Biden’s mishandling of classified documents from his time as vice president, but not President Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents. Why? “The president has the authority to declassify documents,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Jan. 15. “The vice president does not.”
But that rationale blew up a few days later, when it emerged that former vice president Mike Pence also mishandled classified documents. So Comer approached reporters in the Capitol basement on Jan. 31 in an attempt to establish a new justification for probing Biden but not Trump. But Comer only succeeded in confusing himself. “We’re very concerned about who had access to Pence’s documents,” he said — then stopped. “I said Pence. I’m sorry. Let me start all over. We’re very concerned about who had access to Biden’s documents.” Moments later, he added: “I want to be very clear, I was talking about Biden.”