Jen Psaki ponders if Comer ‘co-opted by a foreign agent’

Former White House press secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki openly questioned Sunday whether House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is being used by China following the indictment of Hunter Biden probe witness Gal Luft.

“How concerned are you that James Comer, the chairman of the committee, was knowingly [or] unknowingly, working with, co-opted by a foreign agent?” Psaki asked Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on her show “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

Raskin avoided giving a direct answer to Psaki’s question, but claimed to be concerned that the powerful investigatory panel is “suddenly being compromised in a really serious way.”

“Our legitimacy is being eroded by the tactics adopted by Chairman Comer,” Raskin said.

Psaki’s question followed the unsealing July 10 of an eight-count indictment filed against Luft by Manhattan federal prosecutors, charging him with arms trafficking, making false statements to investigators, brokering sales of Iranian oil in violation of US sanctions, and lobbying for China without registering with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.

Luft outlined accusations that Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China could be compromising to his father during a March 2019 interview with the FBI that took place in Brussels, Belgium.

The 57-year-old US-Israeli dual citizen is currently on the run after jumping bail while awaiting extradition from Cyprus following his arrest there.

Last week, Raskin and fellow Oversight member Daniel Goldman (D-NY) wrote a letter to Comer raising concerns that the Kentucky congressman was “duped” and demanding access to “all materials and information” Luft may have given GOP investigators

Raskin also accused Republicans Sunday of embarking on a “wild goose chase” against the Biden family.

“There are real issues that are confronting our people and they’re off on this wild goose chase related to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, and their main witnesses are people who are fleeing justice in America,” he told Psaki.

Comer has spearheaded the GOP’s scrutiny of the Bidens’ overseas business dealings and influence-peddling, while Democrats have frequently contended that the Republican lacks evidence to directly implicate the president in any wrongdoing.

Despite Luft’s legal woes, Comer says he still wants to hear from him about the Biden family and its links to Chinese state-backed energy conglomerate CEFC.

“Gal Luft was paid by CEFC, the same CCP-linked company that paid the Bidens,” the Oversight Committee’s Republican majority tweeted Sunday. “In fact, Hunter claimed his father was in the room when he demanded payment from a CEFC associate. We didn’t choose the Bidens’ associates. The Bidens did.”

On Wednesday, the Oversight Committee is slated to hear from two IRS whistleblowers who allege that the federal inquiry of the first son was plagued by favoritism.

During that hearing, the identity of the second whistleblower, whose name has been concealed since his existence was publicly known, will be revealed, per a source familiar.

The second whistleblower has been described as a subordinate to IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley, who has gone public with his accusations.

Both individuals delivered testimony to the Ways and Means Committee, the transcripts of which were made public June 22.

Republican investigators are still trying ascertain to what extent Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who helmed the probe, was allegedly stymied in his investigation after the prosecutor made public claims that he had “ultimate authority” in his inquiry. 

Ultimately, Weiss reached a deal with the younger Biden in which Hunter would plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay his federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018, according to court documents. 

The 53-year-old will also enter a pretrial diversion agreement for a felony charge of possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs.

Hunter Biden is slated to attend a federal court hearing in Wilmington, Del. on July 26 to enter his plea.