House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) expects stiff court challenges to his panel’s subpoenas to multiple witnesses yet to be interviewed in congressional Republicans’ impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden’s business dealings when he was vice president.
“In simple terms, we assume at some point there will be challenges in court, and we just think it will help there,” Mr. Jordan told reporters during a Monday question and answer session. “According to the Constitution, you don’t need it, you can start an impeachment inquiry the way we’re doing it. The [former] Speaker of the House [Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] said it three months ago, but we think it always helps if the full of House of Representatives is on the record, a majority of that body, has said this is an official impeachment inquiry.”
Mr. Jordan was referring to Mr. McCarthy’s Sept. 12, 2023, authorization of impeachment inquiries to be conducted by the judiciary panel, as well as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
Mr. Jordan did not reference it, but House Democrats when they controlled the 117th Congress launched their first impeachment of former President Donald Trump in the same way, with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announcing her authorization on Sept. 24, 2019. The second Trump impeachment in January 2021 was launched with a House vote on a single article charging Mr. Trump.
“To really try to get these last key witnesses in, now that the bank documents are coming in, now that we have [former Hunter Biden business partner Devon] Archer under oath, we’re putting together all of these facts, we think we are learning more and more that will help us get the others.”
Among the additional witnesses the judiciary chairman said he expects to bring in for closed-door questioning by committee investigators from the majority and minority include entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris, who loaned the president’s son, Hunter Biden, $2 million to settle unpaid taxes and penalties with the Internal Revenue Service.
Also to be summoned to appear before the judiciary panel are the president’s brother, James, and Bo Boblinski, another former Biden business partner, who appeared a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election on a series of interviews with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Among much else, Mr. Boblinski claimed the president was known to business associates as “the Big Guy” from the time and after he was vice president under President Barack Obama.
Having an official House vote with a majority supporting making the impeachment inquiry official would subject those subpoenaed to a compulsory process because it is illegal to defy a congressional subpoena. Impeachment investigators must depend, however, upon the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute any witnesses who refuse a subpoena.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he expects the impeachment inquiry vote to pass and it could come as early as Wednesday this week.
In a related development Monday, Mr. Comer made public evidence the oversight panel has obtained in bank records of regular monthly payments in the amount of $1,380 going to the president directly from one of his son’s businesses, Owasco, PC.
“Payments to Joe Biden from Hunter’s Owasco PC corporate account are part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes. As the Bidens received millions from foreign nationals and companies in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan, Joe Biden dined with his family’s foreign associates, spoke to them by speakerphone, had coffee, attended meetings, and ultimately received payments that were funded by his family’s business dealings,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.
In a post on X, Mr. Comer said President Biden claimed there was an “absolute wall” between his official government duties and his family’s influence peddling schemes. That was a lie.”
“This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world. At this moment, Hunter Biden is under an investigation by the Department of Justice for using Owasco PC for tax evasion and other serious crimes. And based on whistleblower testimony, we know the Justice Department made a concerted effort to prevent investigators from asking questions about Joe Biden. I wonder why,” Mr. Comer added on the tweet.
