News: Democratic staff on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees are arguing that recent developments in the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden have further exonerated the president from any wrongdoing, according to a memo we obtained.
House Republican investigators have interviewed a wide range of Biden family business associates and personal friends in recent months, searching for any connection between Biden’s official actions and his family’s financial dealings.
Yet time after time, the witnesses have testified that Biden wasn’t a part of their business activities, Democrats note.
“Each witness stated they were not aware of any evidence of any wrongdoing by President Biden or of President Biden being involved in, profiting from, or taking official actions in relation to family members’ business ventures,” Democratic staff wrote in the memo sent to members of the Oversight and Judiciary panels.
The memo features excerpts from transcribed interviews with Carol Fox, Georges Bergès, Kevin Morris, Mervyn Yan, Rob Walker, Eric Schwerin and Joseph Langston. These figures — all private citizens affiliated either with Biden, his brother James Biden or his son Hunter Biden — are seen as auxiliary witnesses before the panel speaks with Hunter and James Biden later this month.
The interviews with James Biden on Feb. 21 and Hunter Biden on Feb. 28 may be the closest the Republicans running the inquiry will get to the president. And considering the lack of smoking guns from the recent spate of witnesses, Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will be under pressure to produce tangible results.
To date, the investigators haven’t found conclusive evidence of impeachable offenses committed by Biden. Here’s more from the memo:
House Oversight Committee spokesperson Jessica Collins told us the panel’s Republicans are looking forward to the upcoming interviews for more information on Biden’s connections to his family’s business deals.
“To date, the interviews with witnesses have given the committees and the public much greater insight into what exactly the Bidens were selling—including that Joe Biden was the brand being sold,” Collins said in a statement.
Witness safety: Democrats also accused Republicans of unnecessarily putting private citizens at risk as part of the impeachment inquiry.
“Many of the witnesses in this latest round of transcribed interviews stated that they have been exposed to harassment and death threats as a result of the Chairmen’s letters and public statements,” Democrats asserted in the memo.
The other impeachment: House Republicans are expected to hold another vote this week to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is expected back in Washington, which would give Republicans the votes they need to impeach Mayorkas. The GOP effort failed last week in a stunning floor vote after Democratic Rep. Al Green (Texas) came out of the hospital to provide the tying vote.
— Max Cohen
