Congressional Republicans continue to push for more information over the dealings of Hunter and James Biden but are meeting resistance both from President Joe Biden and their Democratic colleagues.
The latest salvo came when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee voted down a resolution to investigate Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Nineteen Republicans, led by ranking member Rep. James Comer (R-KY), forced the vote but were turned away by the committee’s 23 Democrats.
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“Oversight Republicans’ ongoing investigation has revealed the Biden family has peddled access to the highest levels of government to enrich themselves — and, unfortunately, often to the detriment of U.S. interests,” Comer said in remarks ahead of the vote. “By passing this resolution of inquiry, we will provide the American people with much-needed transparency to understand the Biden family’s businesses.”
He later accused Hunter and James — the latter the president’s younger brother — of facing little accountability for their “deal-making with shady and Chinese Communist Party-connected associates.”
House Republicans have been frustrated in their attempts to investigate Hunter Biden but are promising to launch larger efforts with the vastly increased power they’d enjoy as the majority party.
The president was asked about the investigations during last week’s 60 Minutes interview, coming to his son’s defense.
“I love my son, number one,” Biden said. “He fought an addiction problem. He overcame it. He wrote about it. And no, there’s not a single thing that I’ve observed at all from — that would affect me or the United States relative to my son Hunter.”
Hunter Biden has been seen at White House events in recent months, traveling with his father and attending church with him during an August vacation in South Carolina. But efforts to get more information about their professional relationship have hit roadblocks.
Comer alleges that the Biden administration’s Treasury Department changed its policy for releasing Suspicious Activity Reports to Congress, and has written to Secretary Janet Yellen twice asking for SARS generated for Biden family members. Those requests were denied, according to Comer.
The White House and Treasury Department did not return requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Continued GOP questions about Hunter Biden are off target and smack of desperation about the pending midterm elections, argues Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.
“Every day, their lead in the polls decreases and they are resorting to desperate measures trying to tackle issues that voters don’t care about,” he said, adding that Democrats might be best off simply not responding to GOP claims. “Next thing you know, they’ll start demanding the Russians turn over Hillary Clinton’s emails.”
House Democrats explaining their “no” votes on the resolution argued that the GOP didn’t hold the Trump administration to the same standard.
“Now all of the sudden you’re interested in oversight. It’s unbelievable,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA). “Let’s forget about the umpteenth boxes of top-secret information he’s got in his house in Florida. What do we hear about that from the Republicans? Crickets.”
There are other ongoing investigations into Hunter Biden. He revealed he was under federal inquiry for his taxes shortly after the 2020 election, and he is reportedly also being scrutinized for possible money laundering, as well as for possible foreign lobbying violations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) have demanded the Justice Department and FBI launch a full investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop, including the revelation unearthed by the Washington Examiner that the president apparently unwittingly financed his son’s participation in an escort ring tied to Russia.
Tim Stretton, director of the Project on Government Oversight’s Congressional Oversight Initiative, said that politicians often take interest in investigations only when a member of the other party is the target.
“A lot of these things used to be done in a bipartisan way, and that frankly leads to move thorough investigations,” he said.
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An unfortunate side effect is that poorly resourced or stifled investigations can lead to “a cavity becoming a root canal,” Stretton adds, with problems not being discovered until they’re too big to manage.
“It’s not surprising, it’s Washington and both sides are being hypocrites, which is unfortunate,” he said.” At the end of the day, serious issues aren’t being looked at or will be looked at through a partisan lens that doesn’t serve the public.”
