Gary Palmer and Robert Aderholt vote in favor of impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden
On Wednesday, the Alabama House of Representatives voted to formally begin an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden (D). U.S. Representatives Gary Palmer (R-AL06) and Robert Aderholt (R-AL04) released statements following their votes to open the impeachment inquiry. “Today’s vote by House Republicans is a step toward government transparency and accountability, specifically with the office of the President,” said Rep. Gary Palmer. “During the entirety of Congress’ investigation into the Biden family, the White House has been obstructing our ability to get the information we need. The American people should wonder why that is the case. Unlike the impeachment of President Trump which was based on false charges and was a political hack job, we have built a case based on solid evidence. Approving an impeachment inquiry is the next step in this process which will provide access to additional documents and other evidence I believe will provide proof President Biden was involved in what can only be described a family criminal cartel.” “Today, I voted to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” Rep. Robert Aderholt said. “This resolution is a critically important step to ensure compliance with the law and full transparency of the process. To date, the Biden Administration has impeded the House’s investigation; therefore, the House has voted to reaffirm that the inquiry is authorized and can proceed to its conclusion.” “President Biden has continually lied about his involvement in this growing family enrichment scheme, and, with a formal impeachment inquiry, the House can now lay out the evidence for everyone to see. It is time the President and his family are held accountable,” Palmer concluded. Most of the alleged illicit activities were committed by the President’s son, Hunter Biden, but what Biden knew about his son’s dealings with agents of foreign governments and did he benefit from those activities has been a point of emphasis for the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees who have been conducting the investigations. “While a father should not be punished for the crimes of his son, it appears this President has possibly committed multiple impeachable offenses,” Aderholt continued. “At the top of that list is serving as a possible accomplice (the “Big Guy”) to the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden.” Hunter Biden refused to testify before Congress on Wednesday but did go to the Capitol complex to hold a press conference in which he attacked the members of Congress conducting the investigation. “Just today, Hunter Biden refused to obey a Congressional subpoena,” Aderholt explained. “No one – not even the President’s family – gets to dictate how and which laws apply to them. Hunter Biden is going to learn that while it may be lucrative to trade off of his father’s name, it does not get him special treatment from the law.” “I’m confident that my colleagues on the appropriate committees will get to the bottom of all of this and Congress will hold the Bidens accountable,” Aderholt concluded. The House voted 221 to 212 along party lines to formally authorize the impeachment probe into President Biden. Hunter Biden is the subject of congressional and legal scrutiny regarding his overseas business dealings and alleged tax evasion. Hunter said that he was willing to testify publicly. House leaders said that they would not be dictated to by Hunter Biden and that they would initiate contempt proceedings against him. Democrats say that Republicans lack any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden. Critics suggest that this potential impeachment is in retaliation for the Democrats’ twice impeaching Donald Trump during his presidency. Palmer disagrees. “Unlike the political persecution of President Trump, this impeachment investigation will be based on facts,” Palmer said on X. “The American people deserve to know the truth- And the truth is long overdue.” Even if the House did eventually vote to impeach President Biden there is little chance that the Democratic-controlled Senate would act on a Biden impeachment. In the history of the United States no President has ever been convicted – much less removed by the U.S. Senate. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Barry Moore says he will vote to open an inquiry into impeaching Joe Biden
On Tuesday, Congressman Barry Moore (R-AL02) announced that he intends to vote in favor of a controversial proposal to formally open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden (D). Moore claims that since Biden served as Vice President, foreign governments and entities working on behalf of foreign governments have paid as much as $24 million to members of the Biden family to curry favor and influence. “The media will tell you there’s no evidence for impeachment, but they won’t tell you the Bidens were paid $24 million by China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Romania through 20 shell companies,” Rep. Moore wrote on the social media platform X. “I will be voting for an impeachment inquiry so we can uncover the truth.” After weeks of back and forth and a threat to hold him in contempt of Congress, Hunter Biden briefly appeared in the Capitol complex on Wednesday, making a public statement outside the building instead of showing up for his scheduled deposition following a subpoena from House Republicans. Much of that foreign money went to Hunter Biden, the President’s son. Hunter was at the Capitol on Wednesday to hold a press conference criticizing the investigation from House Republicans. Hunter criticized the impeachment inquiry into his father. Hunter Biden, already under a Department of Justice indictment, defied the congressional subpoena the committee sent for his appearance. He could potentially be held in contempt of Congress. “For six years, I’ve been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting. ‘Where’s Hunter?’” Hunter Biden said in a statement to reporters. “Well, here’s my answer. I am here.” “Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business — Not as a practicing lawyer. Not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not my investment at all nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter said. “There’s no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen.” “We’re going to move forward with contempt proceedings… there’s a process we have to follow, but we plan to do that,” said House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) said, “Chairman Jordan and I have been very clear when we issued a lawful subpoena to the President’s son, that we expect him to come in and be deposed. This is a normal process and investigation.” Rep. Moore responded to Hunter Biden’s defiance on X. “Hunter Biden expects the same special treatment he received from the DOJ, IRS, and FBI,” said Moore. “No more sweetheart deals. He refused to answer our questions, so we’re going to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.” Moore is seeking a third term in the March 5 Republican primary. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Hunter Biden tax charges fans flame of impeachment inquiry
Hunter Biden’s latest tax indictment has fanned the fire of criticism against the president, who faces an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans and growing evidence that he personally benefited from his son’s overseas business deals. The latest indictment, which features nine more charges related to allegedly failing to file or pay taxes and filing falsely, backs up critics of the Biden family who say the impeachment inquiry is not without merit. “This indictment describes extremely serious felony violations of federal law for not only failing to pay taxes, but for engaging in a deliberate, intentional scheme to evade paying those taxes, including by claiming false and fraudulent business deductions. The standard sentence for that is many years in prison,” Hans von Spakovsky, a legal expert at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, told The Center Square. “This also proves that the claims that there is nothing for the House committee to investigate is nonsense and it shows that the president himself was potentially involved in a shady, crooked business enterprise that sold government access for millions of dollars and did everything to hide its income from disclosure,” he added. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., also raised concerns about reports from IRS whistleblowers that the Department of Justice interfered in the IRS investigation into Hunter Biden. “The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal, and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law. Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth,” Comer said. “IRS whistleblowers also revealed investigators were prevented from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden.” The Biden family and associates received more than $20 million from several overseas entities, including China and Russia, with Comer saying some of those funds were funneled to the president himself. The ongoing Congressional investigation into that matter is separate but linked to the latest tax charges indictment, which laid out how Hunter Biden spent lavishly on prostitutes, drugs, and more while not paying taxes. “Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment said. Comer threatened Hunter Biden with a contempt of Congress charge if he skips his scheduled deposition next week. Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with nearly 30 years of combined experience at the agency, testified earlier this year that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment. The whistleblowers testified that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped block investigators’ plan for an interview of the president and a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. Biden’s DOJ also took fire for what was considered a lenient plea deal that was offered to Hunter Biden but later fell through. “But it also shows that he was almost right – he would have gotten away with this through a sweetheart plea deal with no jail time except for a federal judge questioning the unprecedented leniency of government prosecutors,” said Hans von Spakovsky. “And even though these are very serious charges – finally – they also show the incompetence of DOJ prosecutors or their deliberate malfeasance since he is only being charged with four years of tax violations when we know that these prosecutors allowed the statute of limitations to expire on prior years of similar tax violations.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Committees threaten Hunter Biden with contempt of Congress charge
Republican leadership on the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Hunter Biden Wednesday, threatening him with a contempt of Congress charge if he skips his scheduled Dec. 13 deposition. Those two committees are helping lead the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Members got into a public spat with Hunter Biden after his lawyer requested a public hearing, accusing Republicans of twisting private testimony. House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Hunter Biden will be deposed but will likely be allowed to testify publicly at a later date. “On November 8, 2023, we issued subpoenas to your client, Robert Hunter Biden, for a deposition on December 13, 2023,” reads the Wednesday letter to Hunter’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell. “We received your letters dated November 28, 2023, and December 6, 2023, concerning the deposition subpoenas. Contrary to the assertions in your letter, there is no ‘choice’ for Mr. Biden to make; the subpoenas compel him to appear for a deposition on December 13. If Mr. Biden does not appear for his deposition on December 13, 2023, the Committees will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.” The committees issued subpoenas in recent weeks to Hunter Biden and several other Biden family members and associates. The impeachment inquiry has intensified in recent months as the Oversight Committee released a steady stream of evidence to back allegations that the president financially benefited from his son’s overseas business dealings. IRS whistleblower testimony, bank records, and testimony from long-time Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer show the Biden family and associates received more than $20 million from several overseas entities, including in China, Russia, and Ukraine. Archer has said publicly that the president joined several phone calls on speaker phone with his son, Hunter, where Hunter’s business associates were present. Copies of two checks totaling $240,000 show direct payments to the president from his family members with a memo saying “loan repayment.” Comer, though, points out those checks came right after Hunter Biden received $5 million from a China-linked company. Hunter received that money through his joint venture with a Chinese national, the same venture that paid the president nearly $1,400 on a monthly basis, according to recently released bank records. An AP/NORC poll from October found that only 30% of Americans think the president did not do anything illegal or unethical related to his son’s business. Biden responded to a question from a reporter Wednesday asking why the president interacted so much with those associates. “I did not,” Biden said. “It’s just a bunch of lies. They’re lies. I did not. They’re lies.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Jim Jordan fails in first ballot to be Speaker of the House
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to consider Republican Party nominee Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker of the House. Jordan failed to get the 217 votes necessary to be elected. Six Republicans who voted NO on Jordan’s quest for the top spot in the House of Representatives are in swing districts and are considered highly vulnerable in 2024. Jordan, who voted to invalidate the 2020 election results, has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Jordan received only 200 votes on the first ballot. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-New York) received 212. Both were short of the 217 needed to get the position. Jordan seeks to succeed Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) as Speaker. The first choice of the Conference, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), withdrew late on Thursday night after he could not get enough conservative support to win the nomination. Jordan then defeated Rep. Austin Scott (R-Georgia) for the GOP nomination in a meeting of the GOP conference on Friday. Scalise and McCarthy both got votes on that first ballot, though neither is a candidate. Six Republicans announced on Monday night that they would not support Jordan. Others had kept their decisions private until the vote. Jordan is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee investigating President Joe Biden. and his son Hunter Biden, as well as the President’s alleged dereliction of duty on the U.S. southern border. Jordan was a founding member and the first chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus. Jordan had the support of Alabama’s six Republican Congressmen. Congressman Jerry Carl (R-AL01) said on X, “I voted for @Jim_Jordan for Speaker. He is the conservative leader we need so we can get to work delivering results for the American people. It’s time to come together as a party, get our country back on track, and hold @JoeBiden accountable.” Jordan can either bring another vote in hopes that recalcitrant Republican lawmakers change their minds, or the GOP Conference can meet again and select another nominee to run for Speaker of the House – one who is seen as less divisive than Jordan. At this point, it seems unlikely that Jordan can reach the 217 needed for victory. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Reps. Robert Aderholt and Dale Strong endorse Jim Jordan
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) could be the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives as early as Tuesday. A floor event is expected as early as Tuesday afternoon. Jordan is the Republican Party nominee for Speaker of the House, but will 217 Republicans vote for him? All six of Alabama’s Republican Congressmen are supporting Jordan. On Monday, Congressman Dale Strong (R-AL05) announced his support for the sometimes polarizing Jordan. “From day 1, I’ve called for a conservative Speaker who will prioritize fighting Biden’s failed policies,” Strong said on X. “From cutting spending, to securing our border— the American people want Congress to get to work. Jim Jordan is the right man to lead our conference as Speaker of the House.” Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL04) also publicly announced he is backing Jordan. “I told @Jim_Jordan on Friday that I fully support him to be the 56th Speaker of the House,” Aderholt announced X. Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL03) made national headlines on Friday when he announced his angry opposition to Jordan’s bid for the Speaker’s gavel. Less than 48 hours later, Rogers flipped his vote from never Jordan to being a supporter. On Monday, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) came out and urged Republicans to get behind Jordan to end this chaos in Congress. “It’s one thing to get elected. It’s another thing to govern,” McCarthy said. “It’s time to get the House out of this tailspin, come together, and get America back on the right track. @Jim_Jordan can do it.” The previous nominee, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), failed to cobble together the 217 votes needed to win the seat and withdrew rather than being rejected in a floor vote. McCarthy lost 15 floor votes before being selected in June. McCarthy was ultimately toppled when eight disgruntled Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy as Speaker. While Jordan appears to have united the Republican Conference, it only takes a handful of GOP holdouts to undo his bid, given the GOP’s narrow majority in the House. If he wins, it could take multiple rounds of voting for Jordan to win the Speakership. Congressman Barry Moore (R-AL02), who has been an outspoken supporter of Jordan, is eager for the House to vote. “I look forward to casting my vote for Jim Jordan as the 56th Speaker of the House tomorrow,” Rep. Moore said on X Monday. “Let’s get this done and get back to work for the American people.” Congressmen Gary Palmer (R-AL06) and Jerry Carl (R-AL01) both are also publicly backing Jordan. Whoever is elected as Speaker will be immediately confronted with enormous problems within a very short period. Congress failed to pass a budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which began on October 1. The federal government is operating on a 45-day continuing resolution (C.R.). Congress has until November 14 to send either a budget or another C.R. to President Joe Biden’s desk that he will sign or face a partial government shutdown in an increasingly shaky economy. This side trip into Washington power politics has also left the armed forces in a lurch. Not only is the military operating without a budget, but both Houses have passed competing versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is stuck in a conference committee while the military faces unprecedented threats from China, Russia, and Iran. In his role as House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jordan has been focused on investigating Biden’s administration and his son Hunter Biden’s questionable financial dealings. Those investigations and a possible impeachment of the President and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have moved to the background while the Congress has been engulfed in its power struggle. If Jordan is selected as Speaker, his role will change from being the House GOP’s chief prosecutor to its chief negotiator with the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Republicans kick off President Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry
By Casey Harper | The Center Square U.S. House Republicans launched the first impeachment inquiry Thursday into President Joe Biden, who faces an array of allegations around bribery and financial impropriety related to personal business dealings spearheaded by his son, Hunter Biden. Republicans say they have significant evidence to back allegations that Hunter Biden received more than $20 million from several overseas entities in China, Ukraine, Russia, and more. Hunter also faces gun and tax-related legal difficulties. The impeachment inquiry, though, forces Republicans to focus on how much President Biden, in particular, was involved and benefited from these alleged dealings as Democrats argue the evidence is lacking. “Evidence reveals that then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke, dined, and developed relationships with his family’s foreign business targets,” House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in his opening statement, referring in part to testimony from IRS whistleblowers and long-time business associate of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer. “These business targets include foreign oligarchs who sent millions of dollars to his family,” Comer added. “It also includes a Chinese national who wired a quarter of a million dollars to his son.” The wire in question from a Chinese national broke headlines this week and added further weight to the allegations against the president. Comer said this week that multiple wire transfers from Chinese nationals listed the president’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware, as the beneficiary address. “This happened when Joe Biden was running for President of the United States. And Joe Biden’s home is listed as the beneficiary address,” Comer said. “To date, the House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies – most of which were created when Joe Biden was Vice President – and raked in over $24 million between 2014 to 2019. “We’ve also identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated in or benefited from these business schemes,” Comer added. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who launched the impeachment inquiry earlier this month, referenced those wire transfers when speaking with reporters ahead of the hearing. “While Joe Biden was running for president and told, and his attorney told too, that they received no money from China, we now know that yes, it came from Beijing,” McCarthy said. “It came from Jonathan Li, and the address on the wire is Joe Biden’s address. And then you find out, how did he meet this Jonathan Li? Well, he took Hunter Biden on Air Force Two when he went to China, and then Hunter had him meet the vice president then. “The vice president … he wrote letters of recommendation for his children too,” McCarthy added. The House Ways and Means Committee also released documents and communications earlier this week, including one with Hunter Biden “bragging in a 2017 email to a Chinese business executive that he negotiated a contract for $10 million per year for ‘introductions alone.’” Democrats remained steadfast during the hearing, arguing that there is no evidence against President Biden, specifically. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member on the committee, called it “preposterous,” and a “fairy tale.” “They’ve got nothing on Joe Biden,” Raskin said, arguing that former President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani sparked this “conspiracy theory.” They also pointed to the indictments facing former President Donald Trump, who faces 91 charges across several states and from the federal government for his handling of classified documents, alleged ‘hush money’ payments to an adult film star, and his role in allegedly working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. “It’s scandalous to use impeachment to establish a counterfeit moral equivalence between President Biden, an honorable public servant who has never been indicted or convicted of anything in his career of more than 50 years in public life,” Raskin said. “…and Donald Trump, a twice impeached president who’s recently been found in court to have sexually abused and defamed a woman and fraudulently inflated the value of his real estate properties…” Democrats also blasted Republicans for focusing on impeachment when the federal government is just days away from shutting down if Congress does not pass a new spending measure. “They are wasting time and taxpayer dollars in an illegitimate impeachment inquiry when we’re about 48 away or so from an extreme MAGA Republican government shutdown, and this is what they’re focused on?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
AG Merrick Garland takes fire from Republicans
House Republicans peppered Attorney General Merrick Garland with questions during a hearing Wednesday about the probe into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. As The Center Square previously reported, two IRS whistleblowers testified before Congress that the DOJ abused its power and interfered in their inquiry into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes. Notably, they testified that the investigation was slowed so that the statute of limitations could run out on some charges. Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with a combined 27 experience years at the agency, testified before Congress that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped block investigators’ plan for an interview of the president and a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. “Everyone knows why they did it,” House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said at the hearing. “Those tax years, that… involved the president. It’s one thing to have a gun charge in Delaware. That doesn’t involve the president of the United States. But Burisma? That goes right to the White House.” Garland seemed to preempt some of these criticisms in his opening statement, saying he was not obligated to do the bidding of the president or Congress. He declined to give specific answers to many of the Republicans’ questions, including around the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump. “Our job is to pursue justice, without fear or favor,” Garland said in his opening statement. “Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate. As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm today: I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also add I am not Congress’s prosecutor.” That reference to Congress’s prosecutor is an apparent reference to Republicans’ frustrations with the DOJ for not prosecuting Hunter Biden more aggressively. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has released a steady stream of evidence in recent months alleging that Hunter Biden was involved in an overseas “bribery scheme” and that his father knew about it. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who kicked off an impeachment inquiry on the same issue, pointed to about 150 U.S. Treasury Department suspicious activities reports filed by the agency around Hunter Biden’s dealings as well as bank records and the testimony from IRS whistleblowers who said the Biden family and associates received around $20 million from entities in adversarial nations. Special counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter Biden earlier this month over a gun purchase he made in 2018 after his plea deal unexpectedly fell through. Hunter Biden, who is also expected to face tax charges, was ordered by a federal magistrate judge on Wednesday to appear in court at his Oct. 3 hearing. Garland has taken fire over a string of incidents where critics say the agency has wrongly weaponized its power and targeted Americans, including working with social media groups to censor American posts and allegedly being more aggressive in prosecuting conservatives and right-leaning groups. “As someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, I’m disturbed by the fact that so many hardworking Americans—including my constituents—are afraid of political persecution by our own government,” said Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind. “Unfortunately, it does not seem like AG Garland is.” House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., recently sent a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration requesting travel records for Air Force Two after allegations that Hunter Biden may have used the vice president’s plane for his overseas deals when his father held that position in the Obama administration. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Tommy Tuberville says Joe Biden impeachment “needs to happen”
On Wednesday, U.S Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) said that although he does not like impeachment, “it needs to happen” after a meeting with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) with Jordan and Congressman James Comer (R) presented some of the evidence that they have collected against President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) ordered the House to open up an impeachment inquiry. Tuberville said he was “shocked” by the evidence against President Biden and his son – Hunter Biden. “I just came from a meeting with Congressman Jim Jordan and Congressman James Comer. For the first time here in the Senate, most of us just sat down and listened as they laid out the case against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden,” said Sen. Tuberville. “You know, I am absolutely shocked by the scale of the allegations and the strength of the evidence. We ought to be ashamed. Our media ought to be ashamed. Our institutions should be ashamed of what has gone on for the last four years without being investigated. I commend Speaker McCarthy for moving forward with an impeachment inquiry. You know, I don’t like impeachments – it holds back our country. But in this case, it needs to happen. The American people deserve the truth.” McCarthy directed the committees to open the impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday. The inquiry will center on whether Biden benefited from his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings and other issues. “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption, and warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives,” Speaker McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s why today, I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. We will go wherever the evidence takes us.” During Donald Trump’s presidency, House Democrats impeached President Trump twice, including once in the waning days of Trump’s administration. President Trump’s efforts to launch an investigation into Hunter Biden’s ethically questionable business dealings – particularly his drawing a check from Ukrainian gas giant Burisma were largely ignored, even by the FBI. When Trump asked the President of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) rushed through an impeachment process against not Biden, but President Trump. Both times that Trump was impeached, the Senate didn’t have the votes to remove him. Three Presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives, but none were ever removed from office. If the Republican-controlled House impeaches Biden, it is hard to imagine a scenario where a Democrat-controlled Senate would vote to remove Biden in the midst of an election year. Earlier in the day, Tuberville told reporters that the American people “were tired of impeachments” and that the impeachment “isn’t going anywhere in the Senate.” Alabama Today, and to our knowledge – the rest of the media – have not seen the evidence that Republicans claim they have gathered against Joe Biden. That said, it is hard to imagine impeachment being seriously considered by Senate Democrats. Given that they hold a 51 to 49 edge in the Senate, it is hard to imagine any realistic scenario where the President is convicted by the Senate – particularly with the election less than 14 months away. Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Republicans investigate alleged political interference in Hunter Biden case
Two key House Committees issued subpoenas for Biden administration officials as part of an investigation into allegations of political interference on behalf of Hunter Biden, who faces an array of legal issues. Republican leadership on the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on the Judiciary issued the subpoenas for IRS employees and two FBI agents. Whistleblower testimony about U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss, who is now special counsel in the Hunter Biden case, is what sparked the lawmakers’ inquiry. In particular, whistleblowers say Weiss told personnel from the IRS and DOJ that he had tried to bring charges against Hunter Biden multiple times and in multiple jurisdictions but was denied. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a joint statement that the whistleblower allegations point to “political interference in the investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign influence peddling and tax evasion.” “Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has consistently stonewalled Congress,” the lawmakers said. “Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they may lead, and our subpoenas compelling testimony from Biden Administration officials are crucial to understanding how the President’s son received special treatment from federal prosecutors and who was the ultimate decision maker in the case.” The whistleblower testimony contradicts both Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who recently led Congress to believe that Weiss was the final decision-maker in the case. Hunter Biden is currently expected to face trial after his plea deal over tax and gun-related charges fell apart over questions of whether he would be immune to future prosecution for other alleged crimes. The subpoenas come after two IRS whistleblowers testified before the House Oversight Committee in July, saying that the DOJ acted improperly in the Hunter Biden investigation. As The Center Square previously reported, the testimony came from Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with a total 27 years of experience at the agency. They said that Hunter Biden’s preferential treatment was unlike than other cases in their decades of experience. Notably, they testified that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped prevent investigators from conducting an interview with President Joe Biden along with a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. The pair also testified that they tried to report the alleged abuse of power using the standard channels but ultimately felt compelled to blow the whistle. Ziegler said in his testimony that there was abuse of authority, ethical violations and “gross mismanagement” in the Hunter Biden case and called for a special counsel to investigate. Shapley testified that in the Hunter Biden case, evidence was kept hidden from investigators and that decisions were repeatedly made that benefited Hunter Biden and the president. Shapley called it an “undeniable pattern of preferential treatment and obstruction of the normal investigative process.” Smith and Jordan said they tried normal interview requests with the IRS and FBI employees but were denied. How the federal employees will respond to the subpoenas remains to be seen. In the past, Trump administration officials ignored Congressional subpoenas. “Americans deserve to know the truth, especially now that Attorney General Garland has appointed as special counsel the same U.S. Attorney who oversaw Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal and botched the investigation into his alleged tax crimes,” Smith and Jordan said. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Barry Moore says Democrats “have been out to get Trump since he came down the escalator”
On Monday night, former President Donald Trump was indicted by a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury for charges dating back to 2020, accusing the former President and 18 of his attorneys, advisors, and affiliates of conspiring to unlawfully overturn the results of the 2020 election. Congressman Barry Moore (R-AL02) – who has endorsed Trump for President – took to Twitter on Tuesday to denounce the prosecution of Trump and his team. “The United States had never before indicted a former president, and now Biden’s Department of Justice and weaponized blue state prosecutors have indicted President Trump four times in a matter of months,” Moore said on Twitter. As they continue their quest to throw their chief political opponent in jail, Democrats have joined the likes of Maduro and Noriega,” Rep. Moore wrote on Twitter. “They have been out to get President Trump since he came down the escalator, and Americans can see through this desperate sham.” Moore, a member of the House Judiciary Committee that is investigating alleged influence peddling by the President’s son, Hunter Biden, and allegations that Biden himself may have received payoffs from foreign sources while he was Vice President – has suggested that the indictments of Trump are part of a plan by Democrats to distract attention from those hearings. “JUST IN: The Biden family received more than $20 million from oligarchs in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan while he was VP,” said Moore on Twitter. “Biden dined with these oligarchs and spoke with them on the phone 20 separate times. The indictments are just a distraction from the real story.” Most Republicans dismiss the Trump indictments as partisan politics. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) called them a “sham” and a “witch hunt” in a statement on Tuesday. Some Trump opponents, on the other hand, claim that he should not be allowed on the ballot due to the legal controversy. William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen claim that by challenging the results of the 2020 election, Trump is guilty of participating in an insurrection between the election and the certification of the Electoral College votes on January 9, 2021, and is thus barred from holding public office under the post-Civil War Fourteenth Amendment. Trump has already made history as only the third President in the country’s history to be impeached by the House of Representatives and the only President to be impeached twice. Like Bill Clinton and Andrew Johson before him, Trump was not convicted by the Senate. Trump is the sixth one-term President since 1900 to lose reelection. The others are William Howard Taft in 1912, Herbert Hoover in 1932, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George H. Bush in 1992. If Trump wins the Republican nomination for President and then is elected to a nonconsecutive term in 2024, he would be the first to accomplish that since Grover Cleveland. Moore is serving in his second term representing Alabama’s Second Congressional District. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Daniel Sutter: COVID Lab leak misinformation
The U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will hold a hearing on July 11 on “Investigating the Proximal Origin of a Cover Up.” The recent Federal District Court injunction against government censorship of social media increases this hearing’s significance. The hearing will not decide if a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) started the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The hearing will examine the backstory of the March 2020 Nature Medicine paper, “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2.” In this paper, five leading virologists concluded, “We do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.” “Proximal Origin” was one of the most cited scientific papers of 2020. Dr. Anthony Fauci and many others dismissed the lab leak hypothesis for almost two years by referencing this paper. One potential response could be that real-time prognostication is frequently wrong. Law professor Richard Epstein in March 2020, predicted no more than 50,000 deaths worldwide from SARS-CoV-2, which was off by two orders of magnitude. But thanks to numerous Freedom of Information requests, we know that three “Proximal Origin” authors thought that the lab leak was a 50-50 proposition or better. The WIV was collecting coronaviruses from bats across China to identify potentially deadly viruses before they might begin infecting humans. This research necessarily made a leak a possibility, made more likely since much of WIV’s coronavirus research was being done in a Level 2 Biosecurity lab rather than a Level 4 area. But it gets worse. The authors were aware of a furin cleavage site in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, never previously observed in any coronavirus. This was the key to infection: “Without this feature, SARS-CoV-2 would not have posed a pandemic threat.” WIV and EcoHealth Alliance had sought funding from DARPA to insert a furin cleavage site into a coronavirus. This proposal was not funded, but the research might still have been conducted, making a lab leak a leading candidate when such a coronavirus emerged in Wuhan. Four of the five authors of Proximal Origins were on a phone call on February 1, 2020, with Dr. Fauci, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, and Wellcome Trust’s Jeremy Farrar. Somehow none of their concerns made it into the paper. As Roger Pielke Jr. summarizes the case: “A group of scientists, ‘prompted’ by government officials and ‘shepherded’ by Farrar … chose to misrepresent in a ‘scientific’ article published in a major journal, what they knew and believed, as expressed in private emails.” The case sheds light on government censorship of social media. The expert assessment justified deplatforming lab leak proponents from Twitter and Facebook. Censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story proceeded similarly, with 51 intelligence experts claiming the story was Russian disinformation. Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi dub what their excellent reporting, beginning with the Twitter files, has uncovered the “Censorship Industrial Complex.” A lawsuit by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri led to this week’s injunction from Federal Judge Terry Doughty, who wrote, “If the allegations made by the Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.” Americans must push back against this censorship. I will consider only the tiny sliver posed by “Proximal Origin.” Here’s a potential response: permanently ban the paper’s authors from future Federal research funding. We the people and taxpayers invest in research to make our lives better. Only scientists adhering to the highest standards can advance knowledge. Scientists willing to lie in such a publication have zero credibility to conduct honest research. The “Proximal Origin” authors are not the only blameworthy parties here. Dr. Fauci, who was funding research at WIV through NIAID, appears particularly culpable. I would support punishment for this, but Dr. Fauci has since retired. The Federal government justifies social media censorship to combat misinformation. We still do not know whether Covid-19 emerged from the WIV. But discrediting the lab leak hypothesis represents pure government misinformation. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
