EXCLUSIVE: The White House blasts House Republicans for planning to hold their first hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden just days before the government runs out of funding, while dismissing the inquiry ‘without evidence” as a “political coup”.
House Republicans are expected to hold their first impeachment inquiry hearing to investigate allegations of corruption and abuse of power against Biden on Thursday, September 28.
HOUSE TO HOLD FIRST INVESTIGATIVE HEARING ON BIDEN’S DISCOVERY NEXT THURSDAY
But the White House considers this hearing a diversion. Congress is currently negotiating a resolution to extend funding for the current year, but without reaching an agreement by September 30, they risk causing a partial government shutdown.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claims a Burisma executive who allegedly paid then-Vice President Biden $5 million has 17 audio recordings of calls with the Bidens. ((Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images))
“House Republicans are already telegraphing their plans to try to distract from their own chaotic inability to govern and its impact on the country,” White House spokesman Ian Sams told Fox News Digital.
“Holding a political hearing in the final days before the government shutdown reveals their true priorities: For them, baseless personal attacks on President Biden are more important than preventing a government shutdown and the pain it would inflict on families American,” Sams said. said.
If the government were to run out of funding, the White House told Fox News Digital it would blame Republicans.
“Stopping them would harm our economy and national security, put thousands of federal workers out of work, and jeopardize everything from troop pay to disaster relief to efforts to combat fentanyl,” Sams said.
NO CLEAR AGREEMENT ON SPENDING AS CONGRESS CLOSE TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
“They clearly hope they can use their baseless and evidence-free impeachment attempt to try to distract from the consequences of their extreme agenda, including their current funding proposal to eliminate tens of thousands of K-12 school seats. across the country and eliminate thousands of law enforcement jobs,” he continued. “The president has been very clear: he will remain focused on the issues that matter to the American people, including preventing the devastating and harmful cuts proposed by House Republicans that are pushing us toward a government shutdown.”
Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., arrives at the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing titled “Improper Litigation: Oversight of Third-Party Litigation Funding” in the Rayburn Building on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sams added: “House Republicans should abandon these stupid political games in Washington and actually do their job to prevent a government shutdown. »
Next week’s hearing will be the first since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., formalized an impeachment inquiry last week. McCarthy asked Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., to lead the investigation.
However, the hearing will not necessarily break new ground. It would be a review of existing evidence and an explanation of the status of the investigation, close sources said.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital first reported last week that the next step in the impeachment investigation would be seeking bank records for personal and business accounts belonging to the president’s son, Hunter, and his brother, James.
Sources familiar told Fox News that Comer is likely to subpoena Hunter Biden and James Biden’s bank records this week.
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A source also said Comer would also request additional transcribed interviews with business associates of Hunter Biden, including Eric Schwerin and Rob Walker.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., left, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., make opening statements during of a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Biden faces accusations that he was involved in foreign business deals made by his son, Hunter Biden, who allegedly promised his father that he would use his public office to grant favors in exchange for payments.
Comer and the other Republican investigators briefed McCarthy last week on House Republicans’ findings since July regarding the president’s alleged involvement in his family’s business dealings.
Since July, the committee took a transcribed interview with Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer, who claimed that then-Vice President Joe Biden was “the brand” that Hunter was selling around the world to foreign business partners. Archer also testified that Biden participated in conference calls with Hunter’s business partners and attended business dinners with his son’s foreign associates in Washington DC.
President Joe Biden on February 24, 2023 (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Also this summer, Comer released the third banking memo, revealing that the Biden family and its associates received millions of dollars from oligarchs in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan during the Obama administration. These documents revealed that the family received more than $20 million from these business deals during this period.
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Comer also sought information from the National Archives regarding the Biden family’s alleged misuse of Air Force Two, as well as any unredacted documents in which Biden used an alias – Robin Ware – to communicate with his son Hunter Biden.
Joe and Hunter Biden (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
More broadly, Comer, Jordan and Smith interviewed whistleblowers who say politics influenced all prosecutorial decisions throughout the Justice Department’s federal investigation into Hunter Biden, which lasted several years. Those allegations led Attorney General Merrick Garland to grant Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss — who led the investigation — special counsel authority.
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Meanwhile, last week, Comer requested information from Secretary of State Antony Blinken on “sudden foreign policy decisions” made by the Obama administration that led to the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings as Hunter Biden served on the company’s board of directors.
The State Department has not yet turned over these records.
The White House says President Biden has ‘never done business with his son.’
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