The incoming chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee promised a slew of investigations into Joe Biden, his family and his administration on Sunday.
Speaking with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, Congressman James Comer predicted that his committee would launch “40 to 50” separate probes after Republicans take power and control of the House’s various committee’s in January.
His remarks are a sign that the GOP plans to utilise their new, albeit slim, majority in the lower chamber to present as much of a political headache to Joe Biden as possible as he prepares for a potential reelection bid in 2024.
“We’ll have 25 members on the committee, and we’re going to have a staff close to 70,” Mr Comer told NBC News, adding that they would likely launch probes into “40 or 50 different things”.
Among those priorities for the GOP include probing spending of federal funds during the Covid-19 pandemic. And though it was not addressed in the interview, Mr Comer has separately promised to look into Hunter Biden’s business arrangements around the world for the potential of conficts of interest with Mr Biden’s presidency, which he has called a potential threat to national security.
“Evidence obtained by Committee Republicans reveals Joe Biden lied to the American people about his involvement in his family’s business schemes,” he claimed in a statement earlier this month. “The Biden family business model is built on Joe Biden’s political career and connections with Joe Biden as the ‘chairman of the board.’ Biden family members sold access for profit around the world to the detriment of American interests.”
He vowed at the time: “With the new Republican majority, Oversight Committee Republicans will continue pressing for answers to inform legislative solutions to prevent this abuse of power.”
Republicans savagely attacked Hunter Biden throughout the 2022 midterm election campaign season, alleging that the son of the president was essentially selling access to his father around the world both presently and during Mr Biden’s time as vice president. Mr Biden and the White House have strongly denied this. Those attacks did not resonate with voters on a large scale, and the GOP eked out only a slim House majority while failing to take the Senate; a December runoff may even push the party further into the minority.
Emails obtained off of a laptop previously belonging to Hunter Biden have been used by Republicans as evidence for such claims, though no communications have been uncovered by the GOP laying out such a scheme in explicit terms.
