🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is placing lofty expectations on new evidence further linking Hunter Biden to purported schemes of criminality.
Comer, a Republican, and his party colleagues have focused on Hunter Biden's affiliation with Ukrainian gas company Burisma in addition to newly revealed WhatsApp communications allegedly sent between the president's son and Chinese businessmen—including one message in which Hunter says he is "sitting here with my father" and attempting "to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled."
The Kentucky representative and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley have most recently focused on redacted FBI forms citing a "credible" foreign business entity that they believe could link the Bidens to various crimes. The pair both expressed skepticism regarding the evidence being foolproof.
"We're gonna have an announcement hopefully next week of more findings, more disturbing findings that we found," Comer said Wednesday on Fox News's Hannity. "You know, bank records don't lie. People make a big issue out of taxes. People cheat on their taxes all the time, but it's hard to cheat on bank records."
Comer said the Oversight Committee also plans to reach out again to the U.S. Treasury Department, as it has previously, to request additional bank records that the committee believes could be linked to bribery charges related to the alleged evidence described in the FBI form.
Patricia Crouse, a political science practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek that Comer and other House Republicans continually make statements that implicate Hunter Biden and/or his family in a damning fashion only to lack any major evidence.
"About once a month Comer comes out and says they have new evidence or very serious allegations or disturbing new evidence on Hunter Biden, but they have yet to make a case against him," Crouse said. "I understand the need to collect evidence, but I question why they are dragging this out."
Attorney Andrew Lieb told Newsweek that the GOP's "emperor's new clothes strategy" regarding any so-called evidence on Hunter Biden is becoming tiresome, referring to it as "the put up or shut up stage" of this saga.
"It is an enormous lift to sue a politician for defamation, given the speech and debate clause of the Constitution, but at some point, enough is enough. Hunter should really be exploring options to sue these clowns unless they actually have evidence," Lieb said.
"The way it's going now is that MAGA politicians claim to have smoking gun evidence, rile the base, and fundraise all for a big nothing burger."
The House GOP has clung to new supposed evidence of government interference based on statements made by current and former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees Gary Shapley and another unidentified individual, both of whom were deposed in May about any perceived preferential treatment provided to Hunter Biden due to his father's position.
Following the release of the depositions to the public, Shapley told CBS News last month that his team was not allowed to take "certain investigative steps" into Hunter Biden's alleged criminality.
"We needed to take them and we weren't allowed to take them," Shapley said at the time.
The unidentified whistleblower, who described himself as a gay middle-of-the-road Democrat who worked under Shapley, said he did not vote for the presidential candidate—assumedly Joe Biden—in the last election due to not wanting any investigation to become politicized or corrupted.
Now, Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene want to drug test Hunter Biden, a recovering addict, after cocaine was recently discovered in the White House.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the GOP "is doing everything they can to dirty up Joe and Hunter Biden" while "definitely overpromising and underdelivering" on evidence connecting either Hunter Biden or his father, or both, to illegal wrongdoing.
"Even if Comer does find anything, what's really going to come of it?" Rahmani said, comparing the committee's investigation to findings by the January 6 committee that may have shed light on certain players but no major litigation.
Hunter Biden also recently pleaded guilty, as part of a deal between his lawyers and the Department of Justice (DOJ), to misdemeanor tax offenses. Also, due to his history of addiction and substance abuse, he will reportedly avoid prosecution and any potential jail time related to illegal gun charges.
Rahmani said the best course of action for all involved would be for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel.
Comer added that his committee is "entering the deposition phase," with plans to first depose former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer followed by a "who's who" of others throughout the duration of the summer.
Archer sat on the board of Burisma and was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee in mid-June, at which point Comer said they were "in communication with his attorney."
"Comer is now talking about deposing witnesses through summer, which brings us into fall and then primary season," Crouse said. "It seems like they may be dragging it out to influence the 2024 election."
Newsweek reached out to Comer via email for comment.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more