The White House rejected a long-shot effort from House Republicans to get President Joe Biden to testify before lawmakers in the GOP’s stalled impeachment inquiry. In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, the White House dismissed the invitation sent to Biden last month, calling it a “partisan charade” in an impeachment probe that has unearthed no evidence implicating the president in any wrongdoing while in public office. House Republicans had been seeking information related to the Biden family’s business dealings in what the GOP characterized as an alleged influence-peddling scheme.
Quick Read
- White House Response to Impeachment Inquiry: The White House formally rejected a request from House Republicans for President Joe Biden to testify in their impeachment inquiry, labeling the effort as a “partisan charade.”
- Lack of Evidence: In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, the White House, represented by Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, stated that the inquiry has not uncovered any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden related to his or his family’s business dealings.
- Allegations Dismissed: The letter criticized the basis of the GOP’s allegations as “false and unsupported,” asserting that the inquiry has merely confirmed the absence of any misconduct by President Biden while in public office.
- Change in White House Legal Team: Richard Sauber, who penned the response, is set to leave the White House soon, with his deputy, Rachel Cotton, set to take over his duties. Sauber’s departure is seen as indicative of the administration’s view that the Republican-led impeachment push lacks substance.
- Request for Biden’s Testimony: House Republicans, under Chairman Comer, had requested President Biden to testify “under oath” about any involvement he had with his family’s business activities, a claim the GOP has pursued without producing concrete evidence linking the President directly to any improprieties.
The Associated Press has the story:
White House rejects House GOP effort to get President Biden to testify
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —
The White House rejected a long-shot effort from House Republicans to get President Joe Biden to testify before lawmakers in the GOP’s stalled impeachment inquiry.
In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, the White House dismissed the invitation sent to Biden last month, calling it a “partisan charade” in an impeachment probe that has unearthed no evidence implicating the president in any wrongdoing while in public office. House Republicans had been seeking information related to the Biden family’s business dealings in what the GOP characterized as an alleged influence-peddling scheme.
“Your Committee’s purported ‘impeachment inquiry’ has succeeded only in turning up abundant evidence that, in fact, the President has done nothing wrong,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, wrote in the letter sent to Comer on Monday.
Sauber added, “Your insistence on peddling these false and unsupported allegations despite ample evidence to the contrary makes one thing about your investigation abundantly clear: The facts do not matter to you.”
Sauber himself is leaving the White House early next month, another sign from the administration’s perspective that the House Republicans’ push to impeach Biden is largely over. The lawyer was brought on in 2022 to oversee the White House’s response to congressional investigations as Democrats braced to lose their majorities on Capitol Hill later that November.
To replace Sauber, the White House is elevating his deputy, Rachel Cotton. Sauber is returning to the private sector.
In his request to the White House, Comer had asked Biden to “explain, under oath,” what involvement he had in the Biden family businesses.
The committee has asserted for the past year that the Bidens traded on the family name, by trying to link a handful of phone calls or dinner meetings between Joe Biden, when he was vice president or out of office, and Hunter Biden and his business associates.
But despite dedicating countless resources and interviewing dozens of witnesses, including the president’s son Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden, Republicans have not produced any evidence that shows Joe Biden was directly involved or benefited from his family’s businesses while in public office.
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