House Republicans keep pushing forward on the Biden impeachment inquiry, but if President Joe Biden is worried, he’s not showing it.
Biden made light of the investigations at the Gridiron Dinner in D.C. this weekend:
Ouch. Yet it shows how Biden and top White House officials are feeling right now, especially in the aftermath of last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with Special Counsel Robert Hur.
GOP leaders have been under increasing pressure to show some movement on impeachment. The Biden inquiry has been open for six months and shows no signs of wrapping up anytime soon.
Despite the presidential quips, the Oversight Committee will hold yet another hearing on the Biden family this Wednesday. This hearing — “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office” — features three witnesses who were involved in the Biden family business activities.
Democrats are dismissing the hearing thanks to the presence of Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden who clashed with congressional investigators during an unruly interview this year. Another former Hunter Biden associate, Jason Galanis, will be joining virtually from federal prison. And the third witness, Devon Archer, hasn’t implicated Joe Biden in any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden was invited to the hearing but will not attend. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a letter that Hunter Biden may show up for a hearing if the committee investigated former President Donald Trump’s family’s business dealings. Lowell previously represented Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Outside of impeachment: The House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), will hold a hearing on the disastrous 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a critical moment in Biden’s presidency. This is the kind of oversight some Republicans would prefer to conduct.
McCaul has clashed constantly with the State Department over access to Afghanistan withdrawal documents. The Texas Republican is sharply critical of how the administration handled the Afghanistan pullout. McCaul has come close to holding Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress multiple times during his investigation.
McCaul’s panel will receive testimony from Gen. Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the former CentCom commander. McKenzie led NATO forces in Afghanistan during the withdrawal.
— Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Max Cohen
