The Report of Hunter Biden, Special Counsel to the President, on the Investigations the White House During the 2016 Budget Re-election Campaign
The Republicans were told by a top White House lawyer that they would have to re-issue the oversight requests they made during the last Congress.
Hunter Biden. GOP Rep. James Comer, who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said that “in the 118th Congress, this committee will evaluate the status of Joe Biden’s relationship with his family’s foreign partners and whether he is a President who is compromised or swayed by foreign dollars and influence.”
Since Biden took office, Republicans in Congress have accused him of wrongdoing, but they did not have the power to demand documents or compel testimony. The GOP took over the House majority in January and gained access to all of the investigative powers.
The two Republicans don’t have standing yet to make their requests and will need to resubmit them once the new Congress starts, according to the letter from the Special Counsel to the President.
The House does not allow individual members of Congress who are not committee chairmen to have delegated authority under its current rules, according to the White House’s top oversight lawyers.
We will respond and review the requests in good faith if they are issued in the 118th Congress, in line with the needs and obligations of both branches. We expect the new Congress will undertake its oversight responsibilities in the same spirit of good faith,” Sauber wrote.
They have begun investigations into everything from internet companies and the “weaponization of government” to the Afghanistan withdrawal, and the business dealings of the president’s family. Committee chairmen are DEMANDING documents from the administration at most hearings, which are scheduled just about every week.
The White House was accused of “playing games” by the House Judiciary Republicans, who also stated that the administration targeted parents for protest at local school board meetings.
The Biden White House tries to obstruct Congressional oversight and hide information from the American people, even after President Biden promised to have the most transparent administration in history.
The White House said the investigations are politically motivated and a waste of time. Such reports are not conclusive and do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing.
Americans have made clear they expect their leaders in Washington to work together on their top priorities, like lowering costs, and that’s why we intend to work in good faith to provide appropriate information to Congress. The White House hopes that House Republicans join the president in focusing on that.
Sams said that political stunts such as subpoena threats suggest House Republicans might be spending less time preparing to help the American people and more time thinking about getting booked on ‘Hannity’.
Now that the Speaker of the House has been chosen, the chamber is able to resume business and organize GOP-led committees.
The 118th Congress must pass a new set of House Rules when it convenes on Monday, and that will be the top of the to-do list.
House Republicans will be limited in their ability to pass bills through Congress with Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House – where the president can exercise veto power over legislation. Still, House Republicans will be able to push messaging bills that highlight their agenda.
In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy outlined his plans for power. Those plans include tackling inflation, rising crime and border security, and he left the door open to launching eventual impeachment proceedings, which some of his members have already begun to call for.
There will also be some must-pass policy issues – like funding the government – that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together.
The southern border. After winning the majority, Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas telling him and other department officials to be prepared to testify.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden’s decision to remove US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 led to a frantic attempt by many Afghans to flee the county, with devastating scenes of people clinging to the wings of planes as they tried to escape before the Taliban government officially assumed power. Republicans have signaled that they are eyeing potential probes into the events.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee and the ‘Way Room’ of the Committee on Investigating ‘Weaponization of the Federal Government’
Covid-19 origins. The most important public health question that needs to be answered is how the swine flu started, according to Rep. McMorris Rodgers. Two studies released last year both concluded that a seafood market in Wuhan, China, was most likely the epicenter for the virus.
A new House panel investigating the ‘weaponization of the federal government’ held its first hearing on Thursday as part of the GOP’s push to ramp up scrutiny of the Biden administration.
Republicans and Democrats traded attacks during the hours-long meeting for the House Judiciary Committee’s select subpanel. Jim Jordan is the chairman of the full committee and a member of the new subcommittee.
The panel’s Republicans are making dangerous rhetoric for law enforcement, according to the panel’s ranking Democrat. During the second impeachment trial, Plaskett worked as a House manager.
“I’m deeply concerned about the use of the select subcommittee as a place to settle scores, showcase conspiracy theories and advance an extreme agenda that risks undermining Americans’ faith in our democracy,” she said.
The new subcommittee hearing is the latest effort to make good on that promise. Hardline conservatives had pushed for the panel’s formation in negotiations with now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The subcommittee is expected to look into the claims that the Department of Justice, FBI and other agencies are biased against conservatives. Republicans have accused the department of bungling allegations against former President Donald Trump and retaliated against parents who spoke up at school board meetings.
According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, more than 50 percent of Americans think the subcommittee is just an attempt to score political points.
These days, a team of about two dozen White House lawyers, strategists, and Capitol Hill veterans gather regularly in that suite to plan their strategy for dealing with a barrage of oversight demands launched by House Republicans: an investigations ‘war room’ that is literally working out of a war room.
Sams said that a lot of what we’ve seen has been political stunts and hearings that the American public doesn’t care about.
In the ad from the Congressional Integrity Project, ominous music is played as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan tells an audience that the investigations will help frame the race when he hopes Donald Trump will run again.
Kyle Herrig, the group’s executive director, said that they wake up and call attention to their lies. “Beyond that, we are doing opposition research to call attention to their hypocrisy. Folks like James Comer, Jim Jordan, the people running these investigations.”
If this sounds like brass knuckles politics, it is. David Brock, a veteran of these sorts of partisan battles, leads another outside group that has sprung up to defend Biden called Facts First USA. It, too, doesn’t name its donors.
“A group like ours can say and do things that the White House won’t, can’t, shouldn’t say or do,” said Brock. Brock’s group won’t shy away from the fact that the White House doesn’t want to discuss Hunter Biden, the president’s son.
That is the reason why a robust response is needed, according to Eric Shultz, who was part of the team that was put together to respond to the investigations.
If there are any hint of corruption or impropriety, that will damage President Obama’s reputation and make it hard for him to stay in the good graces of the electorate.
The White House doesn’t want to blow the investigations off, but they need to cooperate in order to do so, said Barnette, a partner with Steptoe and Johnson. A decade ago he was the top Republican lawyer on the Energy and Commerce committee, which leads the investigation into loans to failed solar panel maker Solyndra.
He said the White House has seasoned lawyers on this team who know how to handle investigations. Sometimes a letter from Capitol Hill can be difficult to tell if it is really a serious demand for documents or just a press release intended to get some attention. The legal teams on opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are negotiating.
“Republicans can hold hearings on anything they want, with any witnesses they want,” said Barnette. If you are not at the table you will be eaten for dinner.