Table Of Content
- Business
- Speaker McCarthy directs House to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden
- Rhode Island News
- Foreign governments spent millions at Trump businesses while he held office, Democrats say
- If Nothing Else, GOP’s Impeachment Inquiry Has Dinged Biden When it Comes to ‘Trustworthiness’
- MORE: House Oversight Committee subpoenas Hunter Biden, president's brother James Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan to move forward next week with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after the president’s son defied a congressional subpoena to appear for a private deposition last month. GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna – who serves on the House Oversight Committee and supports impeachment – has told Comer she believes the panel should have issued subpoenas faster. She also believes the committee should have held the president’s son, Hunter Biden, in contempt of Congress the moment he defied his initial subpoena for closed-door testimony, instead of engaging in a long back-and-forth – a sentiment shared by many of her colleagues. For months, Republicans have pursued an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie the Democratic president to his son's business dealings. House Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden's business dealings and have claimed, without providing direct evidence, that the president benefited financially from his ventures, allegations the White House has denied.
Business
House Formalizes Impeachment Inquiry Into President Biden : The NPR Politics Podcast - NPR
House Formalizes Impeachment Inquiry Into President Biden : The NPR Politics Podcast.
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
He accused Republicans of "distorting the facts" and selectively releasing information from prior closed-door interviews with others appearing before House committees. The House has stopped moving forward with a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after Biden’s lawyers and the House Judiciary and Oversight committees renewed their conversations about scheduling a date for the president’s son to appear and testify. James Biden, who was also subpoenaed by the committees, remains an important witness target for the impeachment inquiry. Unlike their interactions with Hunter’s legal team, a House Oversight Committee spokesperson told NBC News that James Biden’s legal team has remained in communication and the panel is hopeful that they can work out an agreement for him to appear.
Speaker McCarthy directs House to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden
"If you issue a new proper subpoena, now that there is a duly authorized impeachment inquiry, Mr. Biden will comply for a hearing or deposition," Lowell wrote. "Chairman Comer does not want Hunter Biden to testify in public, just as he has refused to publicly release over a dozen interview transcripts, because he wants to keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation," he said in a statement. "However, the facts and the evidence all show no wrongdoing and no impeachable offense by President Biden."
Rhode Island News
A committee source said the timing was coincidental — Jan. 10 is the first full day the House will be in session this year. In an announcement first shared with NBC News, the Oversight Committee said it will hold a markup on Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. Before the markup, both committees will release a report outlining their rationale for holding Hunter Biden in contempt. But even without cameras, the president’s son failed to deliver the smoking gun Republicans were hoping for, leaving the inquiry at a standstill. Even GOP Rep. Darrell Issa remarked after the first hour of questioning that Hunter Biden was prepared for the interview.
Even the House GOP’s impeachment of another favorite target, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ultimately fizzled out, with the House narrowly impeaching him and the Senate quickly dispatching the charges without a trial. Similarly, an April Marquette University Law School poll found that some 47 percent of likely voters nationally see Mr. Biden as having behaved corruptly, compared to 63 percent who said the same of Mr. Trump. A Gallup survey released in early April found that fewer than half, or 46 percent, of Americans feel that Mr. Biden is trustworthy. For comparison, a September 2020 Gallup poll found that a majority, 52 percent, thought the then-candidate was trustworthy. The investigation may serve its purpose if that purpose was intended to be more political than practical.
Foreign governments spent millions at Trump businesses while he held office, Democrats say
Hunter Biden's role in a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, was discussed in then President Trump's first impeachment probe — and it came up in Trump's phone call in September 2019 to 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 Zelensky about additional aid for Ukraine. The House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees did not comment on Morris’ planned testimony. The tension spilled into public view last week when Comer and the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, got into a sparring match over the status of the investigation at an unrelated hearing. After a failed first attempt and a narrow victory, and with articles quickly dismissed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Republicans realized the prospects of impeaching the president, seen internally as a much heavier lift, were increasingly unlikely.
Comer and Jordan said in a statement that they have "significant evidence suggesting President Biden knew of, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name." Meanwhile, Comer single-handedly invited the president to testify at a hearing, but he rescinded the invitation after the White House declined, pivoting instead to asking for documents and written answers. The October election of Johnson, who was fully supportive of the investigation, provided a glimmer of hope. Despite the internal criticism, Comer still maintains the confidence of Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team. Comer’s co-leads, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, are also fully behind the work. Some in the House GOP, granted the anonymity to speak freely, said they felt he often overpromised and underdelivered, with one GOP source who worked on the investigation telling CNN that people wished Comer had “reined in” his rhetoric.
While Republicans say their inquiry is ultimately focused on the president, they have taken particular interest in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, from which they accuse the president of personally benefiting. Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations of interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into the younger Biden’s taxes and his gun use. The Republican-led House Judiciary and Oversight committees will prepare a resolution next week to hold President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, in contempt of Congress for defying their subpoenas to appear for a closed-door deposition. Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations of interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into the younger Biden’s taxes and his gun use.
"There is no precedent for the U.S. House of Representatives holding a private citizen in contempt of Congress who has offered to testify in public, under oath, and on a day of the Committee's choosing. Chairman Comer repeatedly urged Hunter Biden to appear at a Committee hearing, and Hunter Biden agreed," he said. Comer has grown increasingly frustrated as his investigation appears to be at a dead end, with Republicans resigned to the reality that they don’t have the votes to impeach the president, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN. House Republicans are promising to soldier on with their impeachment inquiry into President Biden despite a flagging case against the president, a conference divided on moving forward, and ambiguity as to whether impeachment has proved to be an effective political tool. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, denounced Comer's decision to hold a vote on the contempt resolution, saying there is no precedent for the House holding a private citizen who has offered to testify publicly in contempt of Congress. “The Committees are interested in understanding the nature and purpose of any loans to or payments on behalf of Hunter Biden that may have occurred while Joe Biden was either a candidate for public office or holding public office.
Instead of agreeing to the terms of the subpoena, Hunter Biden’s legal team responded that he was willing to answer questions but only in a public setting, arguing that he believed that Republicans would selectively leak or misrepresent his testimony. The committee did not agree to those terms and warned that if he did not appear on the scheduled date he would be held in contempt. Washington — House Republicans said Friday that they will move forward next week with an effort to hold Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony. Witness after witness brought in for closed-door interviews in January and February built a pile of testimony that refuted core tenants of the inquiry. Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney, argued those subpoenas were invalid since they came before the House voted to approve the inquiry. In a letter on Friday, he told Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan, the respective committee chairs, that his client would now comply with a new subpoena for testimony.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan to move forward next week with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after the president’s son defied a congressional subpoena to appear for a private deposition last month. The hearings planned for Wednesday on contempt of Congress will come a day before Hunter Biden is scheduled to make his first court appearance on tax charges filed by a special counsel in Los Angeles. He is facing three felony and six misdemeanor counts, including filing a false return, tax evasion, failure to file and failure to pay. So far, GOP lawmakers have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating Democratic President Joe Biden in any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden's team and House Republicans are in a showdown over his cooperation with the GOP's wide-ranging impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The committees' chairmen, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have said they believe that Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings were the result of influence peddling based on his father’s political status. But Republicans have yet to present any hard evidence that the president personally benefited from his son’s businesses.
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