US House Republicans on Wednesday opened their long-promised investigation into President Joe Biden and his family, in view of their new majority demanding information from the Treasury Department about President Biden’s family finances and former Twitter executives to appear before lawmakers next month to respond to allegations that they tried to hide information regarding the Biden's business dealings.
“Now that Democrats no longer have one-party rule in Washington, oversight and accountability are coming,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement, according to the news agency AP.
In this matter, the Republican-led committee sent a series of letters asking for financial information from the Treasury Department about financial transactions of the members of the Biden family flagged as suspicious activity.
The demand from lawmakers also includes testimony from multiple former Twitter executives associated with the company’s handling of an October 2020 report from the New York Post about Hunter Biden, the president’s younger son. Republicans claim that the story was suppressed for political reasons.
After taking control of the House, Republicans have gone ahead in setting up a messy, politically explosive showdown with the White House that could include digging up affairs of the President’s family and shaping the contours of the 2024 race for the White House.
White House's response to the demand
“In their first week as a governing majority, House Republicans have not taken any meaningful action to address inflation and lower Americans’ costs, yet they’re jumping out of the gate with political stunts driven by the most extreme MAGA members of their caucus in an effort to get attention on Fox News,” Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said referring to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, Make America Great Again.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the senior Democrat on Oversight also shared the White House sentiment, saying Democrats will work with Republicans “when they get serious about tackling problems that affect the American people.”
Comer and other Republicans had set their agenda for probing the Biden family the day after clinching a slim majority in the November midterm elections. The Kentucky Republican told reporters there are “troubling questions,” specifically about the business dealings of Hunter Biden and one of the president’s brothers, James Biden, that require deeper investigation.
Republican lawmakers and their staff have been analyzing financial transactions found on a laptop that belonged to Hunter Biden for the past year. But Republicans now have subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct a far more aggressive investigation.