The House Oversight Committee has launched an election-interference investigation into how the Biden-Harris Administration recently flew the president of Ukraine – at taxpayer expense – to a high-profile event featuring Democrat candidates in the battleground state of Pennsylvania at the height of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Democrats impeached former President Donald Trump, Harris’ opponent in this year’s race, on election interference claims – without evidence – for a far more innocuous dealing with Zelensky, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) noted Wednesday, announcing the probe:
“In 2019, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives impeached President Donald J. Trump for abuse of power under the theory that he attempted to use a foreign leader—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—to benefit his 2020 presidential campaign, despite a lack of any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of President Trump.
“The Biden-Harris Administration recently flew the same foreign leader—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—on an American-taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, which has been described as the ‘trickiest battleground for Vice President Kamala Harris to win.’
“The Committee seeks to determine whether the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign and, if so, necessarily committed an abuse of power.”
Earlier this week, the Biden-Harris Administration “orchestrated and used government resources to make possible this apparent campaign event that resulted in the potential interference in a federal election,” Comer explained.
As part of the probe, Chairman Comer has sent letters to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant to the President and White House Counsel Edward Siskel calling for “[a]ny information and communication, both internal and external, about President Zelensky’s visit to the United States during September 2024”:
“The Committee is investigating any coordination or communication among the Biden-Harris Administration, Pennsylvania’s Office of the Governor, and President Zelensky for use or solicitation of use of government property to politically benefit Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign.”
The Biden-Harris Administration prompted election-interference claims this past weekend, when it had President Zelensky flown into the swing state on a U.S. C-17 aircraft so Ukraine’s leader could visit an ammunitions plant in Biden’s birthplace of Scranton.
Zelensky’s tour of the plant on Sunday – the same day he trashed Biden’s Republican opponent Donald Trump in an interview published by The New Yorker – drew national media coverage as the two candidates engage in a tightly-contested race for president in November’s election.
Two Pennsylvania Democrats fighting for reelection this year, Senator Bob Casey and Rep. Matt Cartwright, along with Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro, accompanied Zelensky at the tour/media event.