Rep. James Comer, a multimillionaire farmer, boasts of being one of the largest landholders near his rural Kentucky hometown, and he has meticulously documented nearly all of his landholdings on congressional financial disclosure documents – roughly 1,600 acres in all.

But there are six acres that he bought in 2015 and co-owns with a longtime campaign contributor that he has treated differently, transferring his ownership to Farm Team Properties, a shell company he co-owns with his wife.

Interviews and records reviewed by The Associated Press provide new insights into the financial deal, which risks undercutting the force of some of Comer’s central arguments in his impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. For months, the chairman of the House Oversight committee and his Republican colleagues have been pounding Biden for how his relatives traded on their famous name to secure business deals.

  • snekerpimp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Hey, since both sides are bad, let’s criminally investigate every public office holder and throw anyone that’s done anything illegal ever into jail. Jaywalked to get to the cafe? Jail. Sped to get to the strip club and not a government activity? Jail.

    Glass houses man.

    • Kilnier@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Mandatory minimums for those who break the public trust. Harsh ones.

      • ApostleO@startrek.website
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        1 year ago

        Bump all punishments up by a tier for elected officials.

        Capital offense is still a capital offense.

        Life in prison becomes a capital offense.

        Long prison becomes life in prison.

        Short prison becomes long prison.

        Large fine becomes short prison.

        Small fine becomes large fine.

        I also think we should make a law that says any elected official making a public statement is assumed to be under oath to tell the truth, and provably false statements made by public officials in an official capacity should be punished as harshly as perjury in court.

      • Jack@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        “Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents, and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses, and American universities; and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: garbage in, garbage out. […] If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public.” - George Carlin https://piped.video/watch?v=cBrbXOmnW70

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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        1 year ago

        This is a great idea and nominate myself to be your new dictator. I fully promise to crush peoples’ rights. Which group of people? My plan is to throw a dart at wheel to make my determination.

        I fully promise to grift and bankrupt this beautiful country. When it comes to my eventual end of my term limit, I promise either to resign and enjoy my unimaginable amount of wealth or die in a bloody coup plunging this wonderful country into a decades long civil war.

        Remember to vote for me in November 2024.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      If only, after shattering glass houses, we could get some politicians to build proper ones.

      “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll throw stones into your sorry glass house.”

      But the sixty-third little piggy actually lived a life of honesty, so the wolf had to raise a mob to burn down the good piggy’s house.

      Once he was back in power, the wolf quickly made laws to make it impossible to live other than in a glass house. Then he felt equal again.

      …oops, that story didn’t end up quite as I planned.