On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee sent a “formal request” to Hunter Biden for information and any records involving his business dealings.
NBC News reports:
In a statement on Thursday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said the panel was investigating whether the president was involved in his family’s business dealings and whether he has “compromised national security.”
“The American people deserve transparency and accountability about the Biden family’s influence peddling,” Comer said. “The Oversight Committee is committed to exposing the waste, fraud, and abuse that has taken place at the highest levels of our government. Hunter Biden, James Biden, and Eric Schwerin’s documents, records, and communications are critical to this investigation.”
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, responded to Comer’s request, and he used a legal tactic that is popular with failed former president Donald Trump: Arguing that the request is nothing more than a “sweeping attempt to collect an expansive array of documents and communications from President Joe Biden and his family.”
Lowell also noted that the Oversight Committee’s request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose and oversight basis for requesting such records, and thus should not be honored.”
Ironically, that’s virtually the same exact wording used by Trump and his lawyers, according to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News. It has also been used by Republicans in Congress when they were asked to sit for interviews with the January 6 House Select Committee:
“Precisely the excuse Republicans cited when they decided not to participate in the Jan. 6 committee hearing. Also, what Trump said about Ways and Means getting his tax returns.”
The House Ways and Means Committee did eventually get Trump’s tax returns, but only after years of legal appeals and delays.
