During a Wednesday, April 17 hearing in the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, that committee’s chairman, James Comer, got into a knock-down verbal fight with Rep. Jamie Raskin, with the two having a fiery exchange after bank statements and financial transactions from the Biden and Trump families came up.
Describing what was covered during the hearing the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said, “experts outlined how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging an influence and infiltration campaign that threatens U.S. military readiness, the technology sector, financial markets, the agriculture industry, education systems, intellectual property, and federal government agencies. In addition, experts emphasized the CCP’s ongoing political warfare seeks to manipulate the public and these tactics jeopardize the safety of all Americans. Members concluded that the House Oversight Committee has a responsibility to ensure the federal government is using all existing resources effectively to thwart China’s political warfare and examine solutions that agencies can adopt to eliminate CCP threats.”
That statement on the hearing also quoted Chairman Comer as saying, “For decades, the CCP has sought to infiltrate and influence every aspect of American society. Chief among the Party’s tactics is political warfare. Political warfare is meant to influence the emotions, motives, and behavior of Americans in a manner favorable to China’s objectives. The CCP’s methods are unconventional and may be hard to recognize. But its destructive ambitions to manipulate American minds, conduct espionage, steal intellectual property and trade secrets, bring fentanyl into our country, and many, many other nefarious influence operations are actively being pursued right under our noses. China’s goal is plain: to defeat America.”
Further, it quoted Comer as saying, “The Oversight Committee’s message to federal agencies is this: the threat from the CCP is grave. You must step up and recognize what the CCP is seeking to do to our country. If agencies don’t see that the CCP is our adversary—they can’t effectively counter China when it targets the American communities for whom the federal government is responsible.”
Also, during the hearing, Ret. Col. Grant Newsham commented on how fentanyl is ravaging America, along with other acts perpetrated by the CCP, saying, “Through a range of political warfare methods, China is embedding behind our lines, attacking us from the inside. For the first time in centuries, we no longer have the luxury of distance. We are being killed in our homes by fentanyl. Our cities and economy are taking hit after hit from Covid, unfair trade, intellectual property theft and hacking. We don’t know who is buying land near our critical infrastructure or wandering illegally around our military bases. The first thing we have to do is understand and admit the threat we are facing from the Peoples’ Republic of China – and take responsibility for dealing with it.”
In any case, the hearing got fiery when the bank statements and financial transactions of Joe Biden and Donald Trump came up, with Comer, commenting on Raskin’s attempt to drag Trump and Russia into the hearing on China, an issue with which Biden is associated. Snapping at Rasking, Comer said,, “No this is a hearing on China and you all have an obsession with Russia and Trump it’s disturbing!” He added, “You all need therapy, Mr. Raskin.”
Raskin fired back by lamely repeating Comer’s jab, saying, “No no, you need therapy.” He then presented Trump as a “deranged politician,” snapping, “You’re the one who’s involved with the deranged politician, not me. I’ve divorced myself from Donald Trump a long time ago.”
Watch them bicker here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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