Republican Rep. James Comer (KY-01) has put the lamestream media on notice.
Use his full quotes or don’t quote him at all.
That’s essentially the message Comer, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent after news outlet Politico wrote a story which quoted Comer as noting there were divisions on the committee over whether Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislane Maxwell should be given a pardon in exchange for testimony on Epstein, a pedophile and convicted sex offender:
Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over whether President Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation in the panel’s Epstein investigation, Chair James Comer said in an interview Wednesday.
Maxwell, who was deposed by the Oversight Committee as the sole convicted accomplice in the Epstein sex trafficking scheme, previously invoked her Fifth Amendment right in declining to answer the panel’s questions.
The story quoted the ranking Democrat, Robert Garcia (CA-42), as indicating that “committee Democrats unanimously opposed a pardon for Maxwell.”
Comer was quoted as saying this:
When asked whether he believed it was a favorable deal to issue a pardon in return for Maxwell’s testimony, Comer said, “A lot of people do.”
“My committee’s split on that,” he added, declining to name who on the panel supported granting a pardon. “I don’t speak for my committee.”
Comer himself wasn’t in favor.
“I think it looks bad,” he said. “Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell.”
If Democrats on the committee are allegedly united against one, that means some of the Republicans on it are in favor, if you read between the lines of Comer’s remarks.
But on X, the way the news outlet initially framed the alleged divisions implied Comer was among those who agreed with pardoning Maxwell:
SCOOP — Oversight chair James Comer told me members of his panel are open to a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell so that she would share info with Congress.
Robert Garcia said the move would be disrespectful to Epstein’s victims + all Dems opposed it.https://t.co/M1IXS8VVw1
— Hailey Fuchs (@Hailey_Fuchs) April 22, 2026
Comer was not happy that his full statement had initially been left out, and responded accordingly:
I made my position clear: I am not open to a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the future, use my full statement.
Don’t post clickbait. https://t.co/RfflZEeZuS
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 22, 2026
In fairness, the reporter had included the relevant part of the quote in a subsequent tweet, but she posted it nearly an hour after her initial tweet, and just four minutes before Comer’s :
Comer, for one, is opposed to a pardon.
“I think it looks bad,” he said. “Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell.”
— Hailey Fuchs (@Hailey_Fuchs) April 22, 2026
The Oversight Committee, of course, can’t pardon Maxwell. It’s a power reserved solely for the president. In an early April interview with Politico, Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said he believed “There’s a good chance and for good reason that she would get a pardon,” though he claimed he had not yet talked to anyone in the Trump administration because “I don’t think now is the best time to do it, with everything going on.”
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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