This is not what will restore Americans’ confidence in their institutions. Two Republican-dominated parliamentary committees recommended Wednesday that US President Joe Biden’s son be found guilty of obstructing Congress’s investigative powers, after one of the hearings turned into a free-for-all whenHunter Biden made a surprise appearance there.
The House Oversight Committee was discussing a resolution to this effect in the morning when Biden Jr., a prime target of the Republican opposition, burst into the Capitol, flanked by his lawyer. Hunter Biden is being slammed by conservatives for his refusal to participate in a closed-door congressional hearing on his overseas financial interests. He calls for a public hearing, while the Republicans have opened an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden.
Under the influence of two indictments including one for tax evasionhe is accused by Republicans of having made dubious deals in Ukraine and China by capitalizing on his father’s networks and name.
“You have no balls”
“Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?” », Launched Nancy Mace, Republican elected official from South Carolina. “You are the embodiment of white privilege, coming here before the committee, spitting in our faces, ignoring a parliamentary subpoena to be heard. What are you afraid of ? You have no balls,” she went so far as to tell the president’s son.
Democrat Jared Moskowitz listed one by one the subpoenas ignored by Republicans in the investigation into the assault on the Capitol, including three current members of the Judiciary Committee. “We can hear it now. Let’s vote and listen to Hunter Biden. What are you afraid of ? “, he continued, noting that the Republicans refused a public hearing.
Then his colleague Eric Swalwell took out his clock showing that it has been 608 days since the chairman of the commission, Jim Jordan, ignored his subpoena to come and testify on the call he received from Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
Shortly after, when Trumpist elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene was preparing to speak, Hunter Biden left the room. “What a coward,” she commented.
The Department of Justice may have to decide »
At the end of the day, the Committees on Oversight and the Committee on Judiciary each adopted a resolution recommending that the House find Hunter Biden guilty of obstructing the investigative powers of Congress.
If the Republicans close ranks and the House approves the text, it would be up to the Justice Department to decide whether or not to indict the president’s son, as it did for former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. .