Comer agrees it could be politically unsustainable to investigate Kushner

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Democratic National Committee remarked on the New York Times profile, saying “it raises new questions about James Comer’s credibility.” We regret the error.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, agreed that it could be politically unsustainable to investigate Jared Kushner — former President Trump’s son-in-law who served as a senior adviser in the White House — in a new profile by The New York Times.

The Times, which interviewed Comer for six hours, said the Kentucky Republican did not rule out probing Kushner’s business dealings but agreed with a reporter who suggested it might be politically unsustainable for him to investigate Kushner.

“I don’t disagree with what you said,” Comer said, according to the newspaper.

Comer secured the gavel for the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in January, when Republicans officially took control of the lower chamber. The panel plays a central role in the House GOP’s investigative oversight, and the conference has vowed probes into a number of areas, including President Biden’s family, the situation at the southern border and the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

In his roughly first two months on the job, Comer eliminated a probe looking into Kushner’s business dealings, according to the Times.

The panel launched an investigation into Kushner in June 2022, when it was still in Democrats’ hands, zeroing in on whether or not the president’s son-in-law’s personal financial interests improperly influenced U.S. foreign policy during the Trump administration. Democrats asked Kushner for documents related to an investment his firm, A Fin Management, LLC (Affinity), received from the Saudi Government once he departed the White House.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight committee, re-upped that request in a letter to Kushner last month after his firm “failed to substantially comply with our requests, including by failing to produce the key documents we are seeking.”

Asked about investigating questions regarding Kushner’s ties to the Saudis, Comer told ABC’s “This Week” last month that “everything’s on the table” but turned to the panel’s probe into the Biden family’s business dealings.

“I don’t disagree with the Democrats and their criticism of the previous administration. We have a problem here that needs a legislative solution. That’s why this Biden investigation is so important. There’s a legislative solution to this, and it can be bipartisan,” Comer said. “The Democrats complained about Kushner’s foreign dealings. Republicans are certainly complaining about the entire Biden family’s foreign business dealings.”

“We need to know what is allowable and what isn’t allowable. We need to have strict ethics laws. And we need to significantly increase the disclosure laws in America. So I think this investigation is going to be very important to fix a problem before it gets out of hand,” he continued.

Pressed on if that sentiment should apply to both Kushner and the Bidens, Comer said “ believe that when we talk about passing legislation to set a line as to where you can be with relatives of high-ranking government officials with respect to doing business with adversaries overseas, then it would apply to everyone.”

“We need to fix this before it gets worse in the next administration,” he added.

In the Times profile, however, Comer said he was not interested in Trump’s finances.

The Democratic National Committee highlighted the Times profile on Tuesday, writing that it “raises new questions about James Comer’s credibility.”