Comer Demands Halting Of FBI Funding Until Testimony On Hunter Biden Laptop ‘Cover-Up’

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) — who will be taking over as chairman of the House Oversight Committee when Republicans gain control of the House in January — has argued that all FBI funding should be halted until the agency heads can be called to testify before Congress to explain the “cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story.” 

During an appearance on Fox Business Channel’s “Mornings with Maria” on Tuesday, Comer said that the Republican-led House needs to bring a “halt” to all FBI funding until they explain their actions in colluding with social media companies to censor the bombshell story.

The show’s host, Maria Bartiromo, began the segment by asking the Kentucky congressman about his reaction to the latest installment of the Twitter Files — which gave more insight into the FBI’s pressuring of Twitter to discredit information about the Hunter Biden laptop, despite the agency knowing that the information was true.

“Well, it means a lot more evidence of wrongdoing,” Comer said. “You know, in the beginning, I thought that there were probably two or three rogue employees who were orchestrating this cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story.”

“But now we know the FBI had a division of at least 80 agents,” he added, referring to another revelation from the sixth installment of the Twitter Files about the FBI’s massive social media-focused task force.

“We also know that the FBI paid Twitter over $3 million for their time, all the time they took over the past couple of years in telling them who to suppress, who to ban,” Comer continued, again referencing revelations from the Twitter Files.

The Kentucky Republican then ripped into the FBI for taking actions that they had “no authority” to do.

“You know, it’s just things that the government has no role in,” Comer said. “The FBI was never granted the authority to create any type of disinformation task force that policed the social media sites.”

“Now, this we know with Twitter, we’ve heard similar stories from Zuckerberg. Who knows what went on at YouTube and Google?” he asked. “This is an agency that’s out of control.”

Comer questioned why Congress is increasing the FBI’s funding via the massive omnibus spending package despite these revelations.

“And the most frustrating thing for me right now, Maria, is the fact that in this omnibus bill, there’s increased funding for the FBI, plus a $1.75 billion headquarters facility for the FBI,” he said. “We need to halt everything with the FBI, all funding, until they come forward and explain to Congress exactly what they were doing, why they were doing it, and who gave them the authority to do it.”

Bartiromo agreed, stating: “That is just extraordinary that there is all of that money earmarked for the FBI despite all of this wrongdoing and evidence of collusion. I don’t know why your colleagues in the Senate are going along with this omnibus bill weakening you right before you take the gavel.”

Comer replied by claiming that “we need an FBI… But this FBI is out of control.”

“It’s doing things that Congress never granted the authority to do,” he added. “In no way, shape, or form should the government be in the business of censoring free speech, whether that be liberal speech or conservative speech. That’s just something the government shouldn’t do. But to dedicate a whole task force of at least 80 employees do nothing but communicate with social media sites and telling them what stories to suppress, who to ban. It’s just wrong.”

The Kentucky Republican then argued that the FBI’s actions were a “misuse of taxpayer dollars” and a “violation of the Constitution” — calling the Senate out for funding the bureau and “tying our hands” and effectively taking away leverage that would allow the House to call them in front of the Oversight Committee.

“You know, one way we could get the FBI in front of the committee really quickly is say, we’re not giving you a penny until you all come down here and explain to us what this task force was,” Comer added. “Why did you tell Twitter to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story when you knew darn well it was true? And the Senate is counter to everything that we’re trying to do in the House from an oversight standpoint right now, especially with respect to the FBI.”