The Biden impeachment inquiry might produce “criminal referrals” to the Justice Department (DOJ), House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said Sunday.
Some Republicans say the move would come across as weak and symbolic. Other Republicans, who worry about the House’s slim majority, say criminal referrals could produce accountability if former President Donald Trump wins reelection and installs new DOJ leadership.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Comer did not name any specific individuals the inquiry might refer. “I think that we’re at the point in the investigation where we need to hear the discrepancies,” Comer said about Wednesday’s hearing on the Biden family. “I fully expect Hunter Biden to show up.”
Hunter told Comer last week he would not appear for a public hearing after claiming in December that he would only show up for a public hearing instead of a closed-door deposition.
Wednesday’s hearing will feature Hunter’s former business partners, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, and Devon Archer, whose wife still owns his stake in BHR Partners, along with Kevin Morris, Hunter’s lawyer.
“If he [Hunter] does not show up, then it’s not going to end well for the Bidens, because we have three witnesses … that have already testified under oath to significantly different stories as to what exactly the Biden influence peddling schemes were.”
“This is very serious because we’re at the point now of criminal referrals,” Comer said.
“We have spent a year investigating this. We have faced massive obstruction from the White House, from the Biden legal team, yet we have been able to get probably 80 percent of the information that we have requested,” he said. “We have accumulated lots of evidence of wrongdoing.”
“I can’t tell you a single legitimate business the Bidens had, other than they were influence peddling,” Comer added.
Among the Republicans who argue for criminal referrals is Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). “He [Joe Biden] deserves them,” he told the New York Times, noting the lack of votes to impeach Joe Biden.
“I don’t think that a sufficient number of Republicans hold the view I do that a bribe can be consummated through a payment to a family member,” Gaetz added. “The D.O.J. is about to change hands … It’s about to be under new management.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said a criminal referral cannot be made for a sitting president but they can be given for his family members. Issa set low expectations for a criminal referral into Joe Biden’s family because “most of what we’ve discovered they [DOJ] already knew.”
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), a member of the Oversight Committee, said the inquiry had not yet established “probable cause” of Joe Biden committing a crime. “If our investigation reveals that impeachment is not a righteous pursuit, perhaps a criminal referral is,” Higgins told the Times.
“It’s a much heavier lift for impeachment,” he added. “So I would say that no matter what the Oversight Committee does, the American people are going to have an opportunity in November to make a decision.”
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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