The White House is firing back on a recent slate of subpoenas issued by House Republicans targeting members of President Joe Biden’s family and his inner circle of aides, describing the GOP’s impeachment push as an illegitimate endeavor that has repeatedly failed to produce proof of wrongdoing.
Quick Read
- The White House is responding to subpoenas issued by House Republicans targeting President Joe Biden’s family and close aides, labeling the GOP’s impeachment push as baseless.
- A letter from a top White House attorney criticizes the House GOP for misrepresenting facts and shifting their inquiry rationale.
- The White House calls for the withdrawal of subpoenas and interview requests, seeing them as a misuse of congressional oversight for political purposes.
- Republicans, particularly Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan, are accused of distorting documents and testimony for political gain.
- The letter emphasizes constitutional protections against political harassment of the President.
- Subpoenas were issued to Hunter Biden and James Biden, with allegations of “influence peddling,” but no direct evidence implicating Joe Biden has been provided.
- Hunter Biden agreed to speak to the Oversight committee publicly in the future, while James Biden‘s attorney highlighted the committee’s access to private bank records.
- Subpoenas and interview requests also target other private citizens related to the President.
- Comer subpoenaed former White House counsel Dana Remus and others regarding Biden’s handling of classified information, which is under separate investigation.
- The White House criticizes these actions as a ploy to inflate subpoena numbers rather than pursuing legitimate investigations.
- The letter points out that a formal impeachment inquiry has not been authorized by a full House vote.
The Associated Press has the story:
White House denounces ‘irresponsible’ subpoenas from House GOP
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
The White House is firing back on a recent slate of subpoenas issued by House Republicans targeting members of President Joe Biden’s family and his inner circle of aides, describing the GOP’s impeachment push as an illegitimate endeavor that has repeatedly failed to produce proof of wrongdoing.
The four-page letter from a top White House attorney to Republican committee leaders portrays an overzealous House GOP majority that, according to the letter, has “misrepresented the facts, ignored the overwhelming evidence disproving your claims, and repeatedly shifted the rationale for your ‘inquiry.’”
It calls on Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to withdraw what the White House described as an “irresponsible set of subpoenas and requests for interviews.”
The White House argued that House Republicans were “improperly weaponizing the oversight powers of Congress” for political gain, and have “consistently misrepresented the documents and testimony you have received and then moved the goalposts when your claims have been debunked.”
“This pattern of distortions and falsehoods lays bare that no amount of truthful testimony or document productions will satisfy you and exposes the improper nature of your Committee’s efforts,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, wrote in the letter, sent Friday to Comer and Jordan. “Congressional harassment of the President to score political points is precisely the type of conduct that the Constitution and its separation of powers was meant to prevent.”
In a long-anticipated move, Comer this month issued subpoenas to Biden’s son Hunter and brother James, insisting that the committee has found indications of “influence peddling” by members of the president’s family in their business dealings. But after nearly a year, House Republicans have yet to provide evidence that directly implicates Joe Biden in any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden’s representatives, while dismissing the subpoenas as a “political stunt,” have said he would be willing to speak to the Oversight committee “in a public form and at the right time.” An attorney for James Biden said a subpoena was unnecessary because the committee has already reviewed private bank records and transactions between the two brothers. The records concerned two loans that took place when Biden was not in office or a candidate for president.
Sauber noted that all those targeted for subpoenas and voluntary interviews last week are private citizens, including Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s son Beau, and Sara Biden, the president’s sister-in-law.
Earlier this week, Comer also subpoenaed former White House counsel Dana Remus and other White House aides to speak with the committee on whether Biden had mishandled classified information — an issue currently under investigation by special counsel Robert Hur.
“These requests appear to be motivated by a desire to boost your subpoena numbers, as Chairman Jordan tweeted just this week, rather than any legitimate investigative interest,” Sauber wrote. On the social media platform X, Jordan emphasized that more than 20 people had received subpoenas and interview requests on their impeachment efforts, and that there would be “more to come.”
In his letter, Sauber also stressed that the House has not authorized a formal impeachment inquiry by a vote of the full House and that new Speaker Mike Johnson — when former President Donald Trump was facing the prospect of impeachment by a Democratic-led House — said any inquiry without a House vote was a “sham.”
