The Washington Submit reporter Bob Woodward forcefully denied making statements attributed to him by James Comer, the Republican chair of the highly effective Home oversight committee, wherein Woodward supposedly mentioned Joe Biden was financially corrupt.
“The statements attributed to me in what is seemingly his ebook are false,” Woodward mentioned. “I made none of these statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and never even in a paraphrased type.”
Woodward mentioned Comer was “peddling tales, conclusions and allegations that simply don’t take a look at in any respect”.
Comer lays out his claims in a ebook, All of the President’s Cash: Investigating the Secret Overseas Schemes That Made the Biden Household Wealthy, which can be printed subsequent week. The Guardian obtained a duplicate.
The ebook is known as in tribute to All of the President’s Males, the seminal account of the Watergate scandal that Woodward wrote with Carl Bernstein, with whom he introduced down a president, Richard Nixon.
As oversight chair, Comer led Republican makes an attempt to carry down Biden, by tying the president, his surviving son, Hunter Biden, and different relations to alleged monetary corruption involving international pursuits.
Riddled with conspiracy theories and discredited witnesses, Comer’s investigation flopped – publicly so in a single high-profile listening to when a key witness, the regulation professor Jonathan Turley, mentioned proof in opposition to the president fell in need of the mandatory threshold for impeachment and removing.
Hunter Biden was individually convicted on taxation and weapons expenses, earlier than receiving a vastly controversial pardon from his father.
In his ebook, Comer claims Woodward spoke about Joe Biden over dinner in February 2023, after Woodward and Robert Costa of CBS – his someday writing companion, whose surname Comer misspells as “Costas” all through his account – interviewed Comer for a ebook about Biden’s presidency.
“Woodward defined that everybody in DC knew that Joe allowed his household to promote entry to him, however so far as he was conscious, that was not unlawful,” Comer writes. “He added that it needs to be, however it wasn’t. ‘You’ll have to show all of Joe Biden’s wrongdoing,’ he mentioned, ‘and you’ll doubtless not be capable to try this.’”
He additionally writes that he requested Woodward “what he thought of my investigation. He replied that he thought Biden had clearly labored the system his total political profession, and that his son and each brothers had a troubled monetary historical past. He predicted that my investigation ‘would both be greater than Watergate or it might find yourself being an enormous nothing burger’.”
Comer additionally says Woodward bragged about Watergate and disparaged the present Washington political press corps.
In an electronic mail to the Guardian, Woodward forcefully denied Comer’s model of their dialog and mentioned he had tapes which proved it had by no means occurred.
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“The dinner with Comer was tape-recorded along with his information,” Woodward wrote, including that he had listened once more to the tape, which was “two hours and 55 minutes” lengthy.
“The statements attributed to me in what is seemingly his ebook are false,” Woodward mentioned. “I made none of these statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and never even in a paraphrased type – both about Biden or in regards to the media. I by no means mentioned Biden was corrupt or bought entry.”
Woodward additionally mentioned: “In the midst of the interview Comer made a sequence of untamed and over-the-top allegations about varied individuals and political figures. It was an infinite stream. None checked out.
“I say this on the report now. I don’t know any extra about him or what else is perhaps in his ebook. However it’s a textbook case of somebody significantly misremembering or placing his personal feedback into another person’s mouth – on this case, mine. He’s peddling tales, conclusions and allegations that simply don’t take a look at in any respect.
“The aim of the interview was to listen to what he needed to say. He was the chairman of an essential committee … As a reporter, you interview individuals who needs to be ready to know one thing. At instances they do, at instances they don’t. It is a case the place the individual didn’t. However I’m stunned that somebody in an investigative place would so misstate the information.”
Representatives for Comer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
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