James Comer mocked for alleged Chinese hemp business deal

Representative James Comer is facing ridicule over a new report alleging that he engaged in a “failed Chinese business deal” involving hemp seed while serving as Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner.

Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, championed an industrial hemp pilot program during his time as agriculture commissioner but accidentally imported marijuana from China around 2014, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday, citing emails released through an open-records request.

Comer’s office intended to import legal hemp seed from China as part of the program on behalf of the company Caudill Seed, a program partner that had also hosted a fundraiser for Comer’s gubernatorial campaign, according to the report. Comer has not issued a statement about this or confirmed details of the report.

However, the shipment was mislabeled, with company employees quickly suspecting the product could be considered marijuana. Testing revealed the hemp seed had a THC content of 1.87 and 2.74 percent, much higher than 0.3 percent. Anything with THC content greater than 0.3 percent is considered to be marijuana—at the time illegal for all uses in Kentucky—by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The company planned to destroy the product. According to the report, Comer’s office urged the company to wait until the state’s Department of Agriculture could handle its destruction, but the documents did not confirm when that was completed.

The program itself was well known, as Comer has touted it as one of his key achievements and has long been an advocate for legalized hemp. However, The Daily Beast said that reports from the time did not make note of Chinese shipments.

Newsweek reached out to Comer’s office for comment via email.

The incident was unreported at the time, and the shipment appeared to be a mistake. But the report has raised eyebrows because of Comer’s work on the Oversight Committee.

Comer has gained national prominence through his work leading the committee, which has investigated the Biden family, including an alleged failed business deal President Joe Biden‘s son Hunter Biden had with a Chinese company.

The Daily Beast’s report drew mockery from Comer’s critics, including several Democratic members of Congress.

“He really was high on his own supply,” Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, wrote in a post to X (formerly Twitter).

Representative Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, wrote, “This whole story reads like a minor subplot on Justified – but without the Elmore Leonard charm & wit. Simpleton KY politician with connection to local small time business person ends up importing Chinese drugs because he wants to be Governor.”

Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch, a progressive news website, posted: “James Comer trafficking in marijuana from China then covering it up when he was Ag Commissioner of KY? Nope, not shocked.”

Jennifer Horn, a political commentator and former Republican politician, wrote: “Politics is full of hypocrites. MAGA GOP is full of corrupt hypocrites.”

Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, wrote: “Womp womp.”