As NewsBusters reported Thursday evening, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appeared on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper and laid out the evidence he had so far that pointed to President Biden being involved in his family’s “sleazy” (Jake Tapper’s word) business dealings. It broke open the floodgates of cable coverage as CNN and MSNBC (36 minutes and 37 seconds combined) reacted by claiming Comer had nothing at all. This was all before U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated U.S. Attorney David Weiss to special counsel status to investigate Hunter Biden further.
Following Comer’s appearance on CNN, the network ignored it the rest of the night before spending 7 minutes and 11 seconds Friday morning trying to convince viewers not to believe what they heard from the Oversight Chairman the previous evening.
“Look, this memo’s based on bank records that the Committee obtained through subpoena, and they targeted individuals who they know were doing business with Hunter Biden. But what it really shows is that Republicans on the House Oversight Committee intend to accuse the president of corruption without any direct evidence to support that claim,” CNN correspondent Zachary Cohen proclaimed on Friday’s CNN This Morning.
On CNN News Central, Kate Bolduan parroted President Biden’s defense as proof of his innocence. “The President has denied, of course, being involved in any of his son’s business dealings,” she said.
Over on MSNBC, they spent a combined 29 minutes and 26 seconds (Thursday night and Friday morning) emphatically suggesting that “STUPID” Comer had yet to provide any evidence for his claims of corruption regarding Joe Biden.
On her eponymous show, MSNBC host Alex Wagner took up the position that ‘yeah, many in the Biden family have taken money for foreign entities when he was vice president, but that doesn’t mean the family patriarch was involved.’ In her own words:
The Biden crime family. And now, the House Oversight Committee has released a memo showing more than $20 million in payments from entities in Russia and Ukraine in Kazakhstan to the Biden family and their business associates. But there are no direct payments to Joe Biden listed. There’s no evidence even that Joe Biden was involved in any of this.
Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough had his usual whit to carry him through his coverage and analysis of Comer’s investigation (emphasis his):
Plus, the House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer vows to escalate his STUPID investigation and to escalate just how STUPID he looks on national television by going after the Biden, quote, “crime family.” Including a possible subpoena for the President. How dramatic. I don’t know if I can take it.
Six hours later, and U.S. Attorney General Garland showed how “STUPID” it all was when he appointed a special counsel to probe deeper. CNN was despondent and combative in its reaction.