Bob Woodward Accuses James Comer of Totally Making Up Claim He Privately Called Biden Corrupt — And Says He Has the Tape to Prove it

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/CNN

Veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward blasted Rep James Comer (R-KY) Saturday for attributing quotes to him in a new book he said were completely fabricated.

Comer’s account of President Joe Biden’s alleged corruption, which is titled All the President’s Money, is set for release through HarperCollins on Tuesday. The book teases information on the “secret foreign schemes” that made Biden’s family wealthy.

According to The Guardian, Comer – the chair of the House Oversight Committee – spoke to Woodward over dinner to interview him for the book. Comer reportedly attributed statements to Woodward that the Watergate reporter now strongly denies he ever made during a nearly three-hour conversation with the Kentucky Republican.

Guardian reported:

In his book, Comer claims Woodward spoke about Joe Biden over dinner in February 2023, after Woodward and Robert Costa of CBS – his sometime writing partner, whose surname Comer misspells as “Costas” throughout his account – interviewed Comer for a book about Biden’s presidency.

“Woodward explained that everyone in DC knew that Joe allowed his family to sell access to him, but as far as he was aware, that was not illegal,” Comer writes. “He added that it should be, but it wasn’t. ‘You will have to prove all of Joe Biden’s wrongdoing,’ he said, ‘and you will likely not be able to do that.’”

He also writes that he asked Woodward “what he thought about my investigation. He replied that he thought Biden had obviously worked the system his entire political career, and that his son and both brothers had a troubled financial history. He predicted that my investigation ‘would either be bigger than Watergate or it would end up being a big nothing burger’.”

Comer also says Woodward bragged about Watergate and disparaged the current Washington political press corps.

In a Saturday email to the Guardian, Woodward blasted Comer and strongly denied making any statement accusing Biden of corruption.

Woodward told the outlet, “The dinner with Comer was tape-recorded with his knowledge.”

“The statements attributed to me in what is apparently his book are false. I made none of those statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and not even in a paraphrased form – either about Biden or about the media. I never said Biden was corrupt or sold access,” he said.

Woodward also told the outlet Comer made “a series of wild and over-the-top allegations” of numerous high-profile political figures during their meeting and none of them “checked out.” Woodward concluded Comer was “peddling stories”:

I say this on the record now. I don’t know any more about him or what else might be in his book. But it is a textbook case of someone seriously misremembering or putting his own comments into someone else’s mouth – in this case, mine. He is peddling stories, conclusions and allegations that just do not check out at all. The purpose of the interview was to hear what he had to say. He was the chairman of an important committee … As a reporter, you interview people who should be in a position to know something. At times they do, at times they don’t. This is a case where the person did not. But I’m surprised that someone in an investigative position would so misstate the facts.

The Guardian said Comer’s team did not reply to a request for comment.