In a far-from-shocking turn of events, President Joe Biden’s brother James Biden didn’t rat out his brother for high crimes and misdemeanors.
James Biden told House GOP investigators during an hours-long private transcribed interview on Wednesday that Joe Biden wasn’t involved at all in his business dealings.
Democrats hailed the testimony as the latest example of witnesses rebutting House Republican claims that Joe Biden was improperly affected by his family members’ financial interests.
Republicans are trying to connect official actions Biden took in office to his family’s business deals. But the transcribed interview didn’t touch on any acts Joe Biden took in office. Instead, Republicans focused on several deals James Biden made during his brother’s “pre-candidate period.”
Biden’s brother speaks: In his opening statement, James Biden said his brother “has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities.”
“I never asked my brother to take any official action on behalf of me, my business associates, or anyone else,” Biden added.
This plainly cuts against the GOP narrative. We asked House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) if he thought James Biden was lying.
“He’s certainly said some things that make you wonder if he’s maybe conveniently forgetting something,” Jordan told us. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) alluded to Biden making “contradictory” statements and told reporters to wait for the transcript release.
In all, there was no smoking gun from James Biden. While Republicans probed the president’s brother on his dealings with Chinese-linked energy companies and a now-bankrupt American healthcare company, Joe Biden wasn’t implicated in any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden, the president’s son, will appear behind closed doors on Feb. 28. Of course, Biden’s son is facing a litany of federal tax and gun charges as part of a special counsel investigation. There’s a speculation that the younger Biden may assert his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
The Democratic view: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Republicans should end their impeachment probe. Raskin pointed to the recent arrest and indictment of an FBI source who allegedly made up a Biden bribery scandal story.
“There’s a quality of just going through the motions here,” Raskin told reporters during a break in the transcribed interview. “It feels to me as if everyone knows the impeachment investigation is over.”
— Max Cohen
