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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., blasted Democrats Sunday for accusing President Donald Trump of hijacking America’s 250th birthday celebration for political and financial gain, arguing the attacks reflect hatred for the president rather than love of country.
“[Democrats] would rather Donald Trump fail and America fail than celebrate the success of our founding fathers and the fact that we are the greatest nation on the planet,” Comer told “The Big Weekend Show.”
“We are the greatest nation in the history of the world. Anyone can become anything in America because of the sacrifices of our founding fathers, the sacrifices of our soldiers, the sacrifices of our American heroes, and that’s what last night was all about.”
Comer’s remarks came after Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, released a 55-page report accusing Trump of transforming the America 250 celebration into a partisan spectacle that advanced his political and religious agenda.
“[This follows] months of investigative work by Committee Democrats exposing how Donald Trump hijacked what was supposed to be a unifying, non-political celebration of our country’s 250th birthday and made it all about him – his vanity projects, his political and religious agenda, his business ventures, and his cronies who gorged on public funds under cover of a shadow corporation shielded from public scrutiny,” a press release said of the report.
More specifically, the release accused the Trump administration of creating the “shadow organization” Freedom 250 LLC and making it a central part of celebrations after the America 250 Commission “refused to bend to the President’s demands.”
It alleged the group used the nation’s semiquincentennial to sell access to Trump, redirect donor money intended for America250 and enrich Trump allies through lucrative contracts.
Some Democrats have signaled the effort could face congressional scrutiny if Democrats regain the House majority in November.
“I believe it will be [investigated],” Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., told MS NOW on Friday.
Comer dismissed the Democrats’ criticisms as politically motivated, arguing the party is more interested in investigating Trump than conducting meaningful oversight.
“Oversight is in full swing,” he said, responding to Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle’s insistence that oversight will come if Democrats win.
“We are investigating waste, fraud and abuse. That’s what the Oversight Committee is about…” he added.
“President Trump made the focus about honoring our heroes and being proud to be an American, and all the Democrats want to do is say, ‘If you vote for us, we’ll investigate Trump for wasting money on an independent celebration that, by the way, mentioned Christianity, even though our country was founded by people seeking freedom of religion.’ So this is just a perfect example of the Democrats, and I think that all they’re going to do if they flip the House and become the majority in the House is investigate and harass Donald Trump.”
English (US)