In the wake of his latest failed hearing, and confronting intensifying criticisms from his own GOP colleagues, the question isn’t whether House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer will continue with his impeachment crusade fiasco. Rather, the question is what the Kentucky Republican intends to do now that the fiasco has failed.
Last week, the congressman subtly raised a white flag, arguing that the “best path” for his inquiry would be to refer his findings to the Justice Department, as an alternative to pursuing an impeachment vote that would inevitably face bipartisan opposition. He soon after articulated this surrender strategy more explicitly — oddly enough, in a fundraising appeal — leaving little doubt that the process was limping toward a finish line.
It was against this backdrop that Comer — who has spent roughly as much time talking about his crusade on conservative media as he has actually investigating — appeared on a Fox News radio show and again made clear just how weak his case against President Joe Biden really is.
But as part of the same interview, as NBC News reported, Comer was pressed on why news outlets have reported that his committee has turned up no concrete evidence of wrongdoing and whether Attorney General Merrick Garland is seeking to protect Biden. And that’s when things got a little weird.
Comer suggested it is part of a plot by the “deep state,” a term former President Donald Trump uses to claim there’s a conspiracy among career government officials against him and his movement. … “Well, Garland’s working with the deep state, who’s working with the liberal mainstream media, to try to indoctrinate into people’s minds that there’s no evidence,” Comer said.
Oh. So, as far as the beleaguered chairman of the House Oversight Committee is concerned, it’s possible that he launched an absurd impeachment crusade based more on partisan wishes than real-world evidence, but he believes it’s more realistic to think the attorney general secretly worked with nefarious unnamed sources — while conspiring with independent news organizations, of course — to “indoctrinate” political observers, including members of Congress from his own party. In August 2022, as GOP officials started making plans for the next Congress, Comer assured Politico that he’d be a sensible and responsible chairman of the powerful Oversight panel. “I’m not going to be chasing some of these right-wing blogs and some of their conspiracy theories,” he insisted, adding, “This isn’t a dog-and-pony show.” It’s a shame to see Comer lose sight of such an approach, and descend into weird “deep state” complaints rather than accept responsibility for his own failed investigation.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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