James Comer Demands Biden Admin Hand Over Documents Related to Zelenskyy's Visit to Pennsylvania

House Republicans are taking up a notch their criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Pennsylvania, with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer opening a probe to determine if the government "misused" resources and allowed Zelensky to interfere with the presidential elections.

Concretely, Comer sent letters to three officials: Attorney General Merrick Garland, White House Counsel Edward Siskel and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. In them, he says the House Oversight Committee "seeks to understand the circumstances" that led the Biden administration "to transport President Zelensky on a Department of the Air Force aircraft to Pennsylvania to introduce government officials to President Zelensky about the Rusia-Ukraine War."

Zelensky, in the U.S. for the UN General Assembly, visited an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania over the weekend. He was greeted by Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who was also among who made the short list to be Kamala Harris' vice presidential candidate but ended up losing the spot to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Democratic lawmakers Bob Casey and Matt Cartwright were present as well.

In this context, Comer's letter recalls that "in 2019, the Democrat-controlled House 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.

"Now, the Biden-Harris Administration is flying the same foreign leader on an American-taxpayer-funded flight to Pennsylvania, a battleground state for Harris's campaign. If the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit the Vice President's presidential campaign, this is an abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer dollars," adds a message by the committee on its X account.

Republicans are also taking on Zelensky for criticism of Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance. In an interview with The New Yorker, Zelensky called Vance "too radical" for claiming that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia in a peace deal. Vance has also advocated for ending U.S. support for Ukraine. "The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine's expense is unacceptable," Zelensky said in the interview.

Zelensky was more cautious when speaking of Trump. He said they have had good conversations but he doesn't believe Trump can easily end the war if elected, as he has repeatedly claimed. "My feeling is that Trump doesn't really know how to stop the war, even if he might think he knows how," he said.

Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt blasted Zelensky, saying he is "openly campaigning for Democrats in battleground Pennsylvania some 50 days out from our Presidential election. Unreal."

Moreover, Donald Trump Jr. called Zelensky's comments about his father "disgraceful." "So a foreign leader who has received billions of dollars in funding from American taxpayers, comes to our country and has the nerve to attack the GOP ticket for President?" he said on X.