On Monday, as Townhall covered, Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber indicated that Joe Biden would not be testifying before the House Oversight Committee, as requested late last month. Chairman James Comer (R-KY) slammed the president's lack of transparency in a statement released that Monday evening, but that's not all. He also sent a letter of his own to Sauber on Wednesday, taking issue with his claim that the "impeachment investigation is over," as Comer put Sauber in his place to remind him that it is the House which has, with original emphasis, "the sole power of impeachment, and the full House has formalized the impeachment inquiry against President Biden."
🚨STATEMENT🚨
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 16, 2024
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Biden family. Like his son, Hunter Biden, President Biden is refusing to testify in public about the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling.
The American people deserve transparency from President Biden, not more lies.👇 pic.twitter.com/3AQg6LoYZ7
While Sauber's letter may have pointed to what he claims is a lack of evidence, Comer early on lays out what House Republicans have uncovered as part of their impeachment inquiry.
"The Committee has proven that tens of thousands of dollars from Chinese state-affiliated entities entered Joe Biden’s bank accounts, and that Joe Biden has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from his family members in total. Contrary to your allegation that '[t]he facts do not matter' to the Committee, neither the White House nor the President has ever confronted these facts. Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence, Joe Biden continues to lie to the American people about his knowledge of and involvement in these schemes to sell his office to the highest bidder," Comer writes.
"The Committee has demonstrated Joe Biden has placed his family’s wealth over his country’s interests, and the White House’s continued hostility towards Congress’s prerogative to investigate these matters constitutes obstruction and contempt of Congress—which are themselves impeachable offenses," he also reminds, citing not just the impeachment against former President Bill Clinton, but Donald Trump as well.
With original emphasis, Comer's letter lays out even more specifics when it comes to the evidence on a matter that his Committee has been investigating for years now, with a hearing on that influence peddling taking place last month:
During the 118th Congress, the Committee has been investigating President Biden’s participation in his family’s foreign influence peddling. The Committee has found that the Bidens did not provide significant services to their foreign business partners but were paid millions of dollars for access to Joe Biden, which Joe Biden then granted, including while he was Vice President. Indeed, Biden family business associates have continued to receive access to the White House, as Hunter Biden’s art dealer and benefactor testified. At every stage of the impeachment inquiry, while the White House has denounced the Committee’s investigation as lacking evidence of the President’s wrongdoing, the White House simultaneously has obstructed the Committee from receiving certain evidence of the President’s potential wrongdoing, including potential crimes. In blocking the House from obtaining evidence, the White House has failed to comply with its constitutional obligations. As President Polk stated, an impeachment inquiry “penetrate[s] into the most secret recesses of the Executive Department” and includes the authority to “command the attendance of any and every agent of the Government, and compel them to produce all papers, public or private, official or unofficial, and to testify on oath to all facts within their knowledge.” To say that the White House has fallen woefully short of this standard during this impeachment inquiry would be an understatement.
Another example of Biden's wrongdoings also serves to rebut a common talking point from the White House and Biden's fellow Democrats, as well as their allies in the mainstream media.
When it comes to claims that then Vice President Biden's actions in Ukraine were based on an FD-1023 form from the FBI, Comer notes that "[t]his is not at all accurate and seems designed only to be parroted by media allies of the Administration."
"The question about what changed in the United States’ policy between September and December 2015 is not raised in that document; it is based instead off the speech delivered by the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and the actions taken by Joe Biden as described by Joe Biden. The Committee’s concerns about Joe Biden’s actions in Ukraine are not based on anything other than the President’s own actions—and the millions of dollars that bank records reveal were paid to his son," Comer also explains with original emphasis.
Yet another shot at Biden and the Sauber's claims calls out "[t]he White House’s total contempt for congressional investigations—a strategy recently attempted by the Biden Administration’s Department of Justice, and which was excoriated by the judiciary," noting it's "puzzling given its insistence on the President’s innocence."
"Though presidents before Joe Biden have provided testimony to congressional committees, the President has apparently refused to do so, despite the majority of voters agreeing that the President should testify about his family’s pay for-influence schemes," he adds, referencing a poll released last week from the Daily Mail.
The letter didn't merely contain harsh words for Sauber and his claims about the impeachment inquiry into the president, but also once more renewed his request for finding out more information. The request for more information about Biden's interactions with such individuals also referenced how First Son Hunter Biden has also given the Committee the slip, even refusing to show up for that public hearing last month that he had requested.
As the letter mentions towards the closing:
While the Committee regrets that, like his son, President Biden appears to be running from a public accounting of his role in his family’s influence peddling, the Committee reiterates its request that the President provide information regarding his interactions with the following foreign individuals:
1. Jonathan Li
2. Ye Jianming
3. Henry Zhao
4. Vadym Pozharskyi
5. Mykola Zlochevsky
6. Kenes Rakishev
7. Yelena Baturina
8. Yuriy Luzhkov
In closing, Comer's letter also notes that his Committee "expects that the White House will now permit the National Archives to release all documents responsive to the Committee’s August 17, August 30, and September 6, 2023, requests for productions pursuant to the Presidential Records Act," adding "it is no longer acceptable that it is withholding information required by the impeachment inquiry." Earlier in the letter, Comer raised issues about the White House looking to prevent the National Archives from releasing documents the Committee had requested.
There is a deadline of April 24 for Sauber to inform the Committee "if the White House intends to raise objections to the release of any of those documents, so the Committee may act accordingly."
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