White House Demands GOP Pull Biden Impeachment Probe Subpoenas

(Bloomberg) -- The White House pushed back on a flurry of House Republican subpoenas and interview requests for members of President Joe Biden’s family and aides, denouncing the party’s impeachment inquiry as bumbling and illegitimate.

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White House lawyer Richard Sauber on Friday urged House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to withdraw what he called their “unjustified” and “irresponsible” demands. Sauber sent the chairmen a letter ahead of a Monday deadline to respond.

“You appear so determined to impeach the President that you have misrepresented the facts, ignored the overwhelming evidence disproving your claims, and repeatedly shifted the rationale for your ‘inquiry,’” Sauber wrote.

Republicans are months into a wide-ranging investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings, as well as Biden’s handling of classified documents before he became president, the latter of which is also being probed by the Justice Department.

GOP investigators have uncovered evidence Biden’s son, Hunter, used his family name to secure overseas business deals and raised questions about Biden’s past claims about his knowledge of Hunter’s efforts. But they have not found proof the president used his government positions to further his family’s business ventures.

Biden and the White House have dismissed the probes as a politically motivated effort to damage the president ahead of the 2024 election.

“No amount of truthful testimony or document productions will satisfy you and exposes the improper nature of your Committees’ efforts,” Sauber wrote. “Congressional harassment of the President to score political points is precisely the type of conduct that the Constitution and its separation of powers was meant to prevent.”

Sauber wrote that the requests were also illegitimate because the House hasn’t voted to open an impeachment inquiry of Biden, and thus lacks constitutional authority to issue subpoenas as part of its probe.

Earlier this month, Comer subpoenaed Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James, alleging they had found evidence of “influence peddling” by members of the president’s family.

Comer and Jordan on Nov. 13 subpoenaed former White House Counsel Dana Remus to appear for a deposition about Biden’s handling of classified documents. The subpoena linked the document discoveries to questions about the business deals of the president’s relatives.

“It is imperative to learn whether President Biden retained sensitive documents related to any countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings that brought in millions for the Biden family,” Comer said in a statement.

The GOP lawmakers also issued interview requests to four White House officials: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Katharine Reilly.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents, which were found at his post-vice presidential office and Delaware residence.

Biden sat for an interview in that investigation, the White House said last month.

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