(Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
House Republicans are poised to release a report detailing crimes uncovered as part of the corruption-focused impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, a lead investigator said on Sunday.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) made the announcement during an interview on Fox News after “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo pressed him on whether there would be any criminal referral for money laundering against the president after congressional investigators recommended his son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden face prosecution for allegedly lying to Congress.
“I think that it’s no secret Joe Biden’s committed many crimes, and I think that you’re going to see a report very soon. That report is imminent,” Comer responded. “That will probably be an interim report that updates everyone on the crimes that Biden and his administration have committed throughout this investigation and through the years of the Obama-Biden administration.”
Bartiromo: Are you saying that we could expect a criminal referral against Joe Biden for money laundering?
Comer: I think it's no secret Joe Biden's committed many crimes, and I think that you're going to see a report very soon. That report is imminent. pic.twitter.com/v9LPW0ZVnV
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 9, 2024
Millions of dollars made by Biden family members and their companies have spurred concerns about potential influence-peddling schemes involving Joe Biden dating back to when he served as vice president. Comer and his colleagues sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel David Weiss last week recommending both Hunter Biden and James Biden be charged with making false statements and Hunter Biden also be charged with perjury over testimony for the inquiry.
The criminal referrals are the “first step,” Comer said during the interview on Sunday. “Everything that we refer to the Department of Justice is within the statute of limitations. In fact, there’s a five-year statute of limitations. So, if Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice doesn’t take this up in an appropriate manner, then the next administration and a new attorney general certainly can,” he added.
Hunter Biden is already facing two criminal cases led by Weiss that could result in prison time. The first son has pleaded not guilty to gun charges in a case set in Delaware and tax charges in California. His gun-related trial began last week, while the tax trial in California is set to start in September.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, said the referrals are “nothing more than a desperate attempt by Republicans to twist Hunter’s testimony so they can distract from their failed impeachment inquiry and interfere with his trial,” according to the Associated Press. James Biden’s lawyer Paul Fishman called the move by House Republicans a “baseless partisan action” and said his client “always maintained that Joe Biden never had any involvement in his business dealings.”
Whether President Biden will also face criminal referrals, Comer did not say, but the chairman stated that “accountability for Joe Biden” is the “next step.” President Biden has denied interacting with his family members’ business partners, despite testimony from impeachment witnesses attesting he did at least speak with some of the associates, and he refused to accept an invitation to testify for the probe.
Comer said subpoenaing a sitting president is “hard” and quipped that if it was not difficult then the Democrats “would have done that to” former President Donald Trump in the impeachment inquiries he faced. Still, the chairman also insisted that what congressional investigators “have done in all of our depositions and interviews has been very substantive and is going to be very useful in accountability.”
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