Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is poised to take over as House Oversight Committee Chairman if Republicans take control of the House in January. They are expected to have a narrow majority and launch multiple investigations of the Biden administration.
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Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is poised to take over as House Oversight Committee Chairman if Republicans take control of the House in January. They are expected to have a narrow majority and launch multiple investigations of the Biden administration.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The two main Republicans of the House of Representatives – Rep. James Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan — who are expected to chair the House Oversight and Judiciary committees next year — are planning to present evidence they say they gathered from whistleblowers pointing to President Biden’s son, Hunter. engaged in influence peddling and his father, potentially while serving as vice president, may have benefited financially.
In a press conference on Thursday, Comer accused the Biden family of defrauding the United States, tax evasion, violating several laws and money laundering, among other charges.
“The president’s participation in enriching his family is, in a word, abuse of the highest order,” Comer said. “I want to be clear: this is an investigation of Joe Biden, and our focus here will be the next Congress.”
Before the press conference, Comer said the evidence was not “packaged together” and that his goal in releasing the information was to “make it very clear that as of this moment, this is no longer the Hunter Biden investigation. This is the Investigation of Joe Biden.” He called Hunter Biden a “corrupt national security threat” — claiming his panel has evidence of ties to Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian officials.
On Thursday, Comer also sent letters to the heads of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Treasury Department seeking documents on the Biden family’s business dealings at home and abroad. He also sent letters seeking information about the relationships and communications between Eric Schwerin, Edward Prewitt and Georges Bergès, who allegedly had business and management relationships with the Biden family.
The White House hit back, calling the investigation a conspiracy theory.
“Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to pursue President Biden with politically motivated attacks full of long-debunked conspiracy theories.” , the White House spokesman said. Ian Sams. “President Biden will not allow these political attacks to distract him from focusing on the priorities of the American people, and we hope that congressional Republicans will join us in addressing them instead of wasting time and resources on political vendettas.”
Hunter Biden’s role in a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, was discussed in the first impeachment inquiry into then-President Trump — and came up in Trump’s September 2019 phone conversation with the newly elected Ukrainian president. President Trump pressed for an investigation into his then-2020 presidential rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, in his discussion with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about additional aid to Ukraine.
Republicans are expected to have a slim majority, a far different outcome than top GOP leaders predicted in a “red wave” that failed to materialize. Comer admitted he expected his party to pick up more seats, but as for his planned inquiries, he said nothing had changed – “full steam ahead”.
Without providing evidence, promising to appear Thursday, Comer said the president was linked to Hunter’s actions, which he called “the use of influence” and described it as lobbying foreign governments without registering, as required by law. . He told NPR that the panel believes there is “sufficient evidence to establish that Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s questionable business dealings” and said “we believe he may have been financially involved in some of those business deals, but at the very least, we believe that we should be investigated to see if these dubious business deals have compromised this White House.”
Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a top Democrat on the oversight panel who is running to serve as ranking Democrat next year, called the planned GOP investigation into the Biden family “a tired, well-worn book by Republicans.” . He pointed to previous investigations when the GOP controlled the House during the Obama administration into the Benghazi attack and the investigation into the so-called Fast and Furious probe into a failed arms-trafficking operation, saying they “didn’t go nowhere”.
He said his committee “will be on the front lines of all the battlefields. And we must be prepared and disciplined to be strategically focused and organized not only to respond to this, but to “We fight them, to expose the fictions, to expose the distortions, to expose the character assassination for what it is.”
At a recent press conference, President Biden was asked about Republican investigations into his son’s and his family’s business dealings, and dismissed them, saying, “good luck in your senior year, as said my coach”. He noted that some Republicans were pushing impeachment proceedings against him and said he didn’t think Americans would support them, calling the effort “almost a farce.”
Comer told NPR on Wednesday that Biden has said publicly that he has never met some of his son’s associates, but his investigation has produced photos, emails and bank records. He suggested that some of the evidence shows that the bank accounts between Hunter and his father were “mixed up”. Comer said Jordan will show how whistleblowers brought evidence of financial misconduct to the FBI and DOJ, but they did not pursue an investigation.
Comer said “there’s a very good chance” Hunter Biden will get a subpoena, but the committee wants to talk to whistleblowers in transcribed interviews first.
The Kentucky Republican compared Hunter Biden’s business dealings to those of Michael Flynn, the retired Army lieutenant general who served briefly as President Trump’s national security adviser. Flynn had to resign after it was revealed that he had communicated with the Russian ambassador during the transition period between the Obama and Trump presidencies. He also lobbied the Turkish government while advising the Trump campaign.
Comer said he doesn’t believe some in the media understand the “severity of the crimes” he alleges Hunter Biden committed.
Asked if the White House is prepared for the aggressive investigations a GOP House will face, Connolly admitted, “I don’t think anyone can be prepared for the onslaught that’s likely to occur.” He said he hopes to recruit Democrats with prosecutorial or court experience to serve on the panel.
