Democrats may be chortling about Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Largo home being searched by the FBI, but you have to wonder how happy they’ll be in January 2023 when the new Republican House majority uses the full scope of its power to investigate Hunter Biden’s influence-peddling and his father’s furthering his son’s crooked business interests.
My guess is that there won’t be a lot of jolliness from Democrats once Hunter and Joe’s dirty laundry is aired.
Democrats will claim that the GOP’s sudden interest in Hunter Biden is hypocritical because they never bothered to investigate Trump’s kids when he was in office. The difference is simple: Trump’s kids weren’t trying to sell access and influence like Hunter.
These days, Republicans are making no secret of their plans to use a Hunter Biden inquiry next year as a platform to go after his father — after years of brushing off conflicts of interest within Trump’s family. No evidence has emerged to show that the business dealings of Hunter Biden, who’s faced a years-long federal investigation, affected his father’s decisions as president.
GOP lawmakers are pushing ahead anyway, planning a sprawling probe that will reach into the ethics of Hunter Biden’s artwork sales and other business deals, as well as policy decisions by the Biden administration.
While Hunter Biden won’t be forgotten, some House Republicans are already calling for a broad, thorough investigation into the FBI’s Trump obsession. Many rank-and-file Republicans are livid and are demanding a pound of flesh. But the focus of the Oversight Committee is going to be Hunter Biden and the possible conflicts of interest by his father.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), set to chair the Oversight Committee if Republicans win the majority, said he’ll be ready to formally launch an investigation in January, when the new Congress is sworn in.
“We’re going to have a great hearing early on the potential wrongdoing within the Biden family,” Comer said in an interview. “The fear is that these shady business dealings have compromised the president.”
Comer declined to name the witnesses he’d like to call, simply saying they’d be some of Hunter Biden’s former business associates. Hunter Biden will be invited to testify and it is “very possible” the First Son would be subpoenaed, he added.
The House won’t be the only entity investigating Hunter Biden; Joe Biden’s son may face charges as the result of the federal criminal investigation into possible tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign lobbying crimes linked to his overseas business deals. But Republicans in the House want to hear about Hunter’s efforts to use his father’s influence to enrich himself and the president, which will be far more compelling TV than some boring tax fraud case.
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