Republicans are calling three key witnesses in the first hearing of the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, The Hill reported. They are expected to uncover the president's alleged role in his son Hunter Biden's shady business dealings.
The witnesses include a conservative legal expert, a forensic accountant, and a former tax attorney with the Department of Justice. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said last week that the proceedings are "not expected to cover new ground."
One of the major accusations against Joe Biden is that he received $5 million in bribes for pressuring the Ukrainian government to remove prosecutor Viktor Shokin from an investigation into Burisma. At the time, the elder Biden was vice president, and the younger Biden was a board member at the company.
The accusation comes from an FBI whistleblower report but has yet to be substantiated elsewhere. That's where the witnesses, legal expert Jonathan Turley, DOJ attorney Eileen O’Connor, and forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky, come in to follow the trail of evidence.
Turley is currently a media contributor and George Washington University law professor. Republican lawmakers have tapped him in the past to testify about Democrats' "weaponization" of the justice system and federal government.
O'Connor has experience in the George W. Bush administration and worked in the tax sector of the Justice Department as the assistant attorney general. Her accomplishments include a scathing Wall Street Journal opinion piece, "You’d Go to Prison for What Hunter Biden Did," which hints at what her role is in the proceedings.
Burinksy is experienced in his field, including previous investigation work into Hunter Biden's financial affairs. He's also been a media point person on tax issues, including the disclosure of former President Donald Trump's tax returns.
Comer touted his slate of witnesses in a statement released Monday. "This week, the House Oversight Committee will present evidence uncovered to date and hear from legal and financial experts about crimes the Bidens may have committed as they brought in millions at the expense of U.S. interests," the Kentucky Republican said.
The response from the president has predictably been one of deflection. White House spokesman for oversight and investigations Ian Sams attempted to spin the investigation as a distraction from the issue of an impending government shutdown.
"While Comer and Jordan are focused on baseless political stunts to get themselves attention on Fox News, 300,000 of people at risk in Kentucky and Ohio—including vulnerable infants—could lose access to the food assistance they need because of extreme House Republicans’ shutdown plan," Sams said in a statement. He added that GOP lawmakers are "posing for the cameras to attack President Biden with debunked smears – it’s D.C. politics at its worst."
However, the administration is running scared as Comer and the committee have seemingly just scratched the surface when it comes to the corruption within the Biden family. Earlier this month, Comer called Hunter Biden's indictment for federal gun crimes a "very small start."
He added that Special Counsel David Weiss needs to "investigate everyone involved" in the "fraud schemes and influence peddling" allegedly rampant in the Biden family, Fox News reported. Unfortunately, it seemed evident that Weiss was intent on covering for Hunter Biden until his "sweetheart plea deal" fell apart under scrutiny by an honest judge.
Weiss had offered to let the younger Biden off the hook for serious gun crimes associated with lying about his drug use on a firearm application. Hunter Biden will now face a trial for those three charges, while Comer said that it's "clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the ‘Big Guy.'"
The Bidens have skated by despite considerable evidence that they're running a crooked enterprise. Comer's witnesses will be able to shed light on those facts that the Bidens and their allies in the DOJ were working so diligently to hide.
