Fiery House impeachment hearing held, as Republicans look for link between president and son Hunter’s business dealings

The 14-month-long impeachment inquiry hasn’t gone as smoothly as the House Republican Conference had hoped, as they have yet to build a solid case against President Joe Biden by linking him to his son’s business dealings. This frustration was on display during Wednesday’s House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing.

The hearing went off-topic on several occasions: One of the Republican-invited witnesses entered into several fiery exchanges with Democratic members on the panel, while one congressman showed up wearing a face mask.

The committee chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., in his opening statement said the more than a yearlong investigation found that the Biden family does not “work in any traditional sense of the word.”

“The Bidens don’t sell a product or a service or a set of skills,” said Comer. “The Bidens sell Joe Biden.”

The Republicans invited two witnesses, former Hunter Biden associates Tony Bobulinski and James Galanis.

During his testimony Wednesday and previously, Bobulinski claimed President Biden helped his son and his brother James Biden in their business dealings with Chinese energy company CEFC. Bobulinski also claimed Hunter Biden lied in his previous testimony to the committee.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, in his opening remarks said Bobulinski made “hazy allegations against the Bidens for the first time at a press conference choreographed by the Trump for President campaign,” per Forbes.

He said that the GOP lacked evidence while their “own star witnesses” faced prosecution. Raskin was referring to Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant, who claimed that then-Vice President Biden and his son were involved in a bribery scheme. He was recently indicted for making these fictitious claims as prosecutors found he was linked to Russian intelligence.

Heated exchange between GOP witness and Rep. Raskin

Bobluninski accused the Biden family, their lawyers, and several Democrats of being liars, which earned an interruption from Raskin.

“Am I supposed to say it’s my time, Mr. Raskin?” Bobulinski retorted before Comer tapped his gavel and called the committee to come to order. Raskin asked the chairman whether decorum rules also apply to witnesses, and Comer responded there aren’t any such guidelines for witnesses.

Bobulinski claimed that President Biden engaged in his son’s work by speaking to his clients

Politico reported another round of sparring between Bobulinski and Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who accused the witness of failing to present evidence of links between Hunter Biden and President Biden.

Bobulinski cut off Garcia, saying that’s a “blatant lie.” Garcia said, “Actually, it’s my time, sir,” before carrying on with his remark.

During the line of questioning, Garcia pushed Bobulinski on his claims of not being a political person. The California representative asked the witness if he was former President Donald Trump’s guest during the 2020 presidential debate, and Bobulinski confirmed he was.

Witness Galanis was testifying from an Alabama prison. He is serving a 14-year prison sentence after being convicted of numerous fraud charges. Galanis claimed Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and himself were equity partners in building the Burnham group, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting group. Galanis said “The entire value-add of Hunter Biden to our business was his family name and his access to his father, Vice President Joe Biden.”

He traced the younger Biden’s work in forging relationships in Kazakhstan, Russia and China. Towards the end of his testimony, he said he had been sexually assaulted in prison.

Punchbowl News reported Democrats attempted to subpoena Bobulinski’s phone but Republicans were quick to table that motion.

Congressman in the Putin mask

Meanwhile, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., showed up to the hearing wearing a rubber mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Acting as the Russian president, he told reporters he was thankful to Comer “for taking all of our intelligence and using it in the committee,” as The Hill reported.

“House Oversight Republicans opened this investigation into Joe Biden with the 1023 form, which has now been proven to come right from Russian intelligence,” said Moskowitz of the evidence supplied by Smirnov. “James Comer did the bidding of Vladimir Putin. The mask was worn to provide that visual.”

The House committee also heard from Lev Parnas, a former aide to Trump who was invited by the Democrats. Parnas worked with Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani in 2018 and 2019 to find evidence of any wrongdoing by President Biden.

“The American people have been lied to, by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions,” Parnas said in his opening statement. “They created falsehoods to serve their own interests knowing it would undermine the strength of our nation.” He repeatedly claimed there is no concrete evidence of corruption by the Biden family.

Hunter Biden ditches hearing, President Biden calls it a joke

Hunter Biden and his associate Devon Archer were invited to the hearing but both of them declined to attend. Per Axios, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, in a letter to Comer last week, said the younger Biden declined the “invitation to this carnival side show.”

On March 15, White House counsel Edward Siskel wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., arguing for House Republicans to end the impeachment inquiry.

“It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker. This impeachment is over,” the letter said, as USA Today reported. “There is too much important work to be done for the American people to continue wasting time on this charade.”

At the 2024 Gridiron dinner last week, President Biden poked fun at Republicans.

Biden said, “And the biggest joke of the night: an impeachment inquiry. Imagine believing something so baseless that has a zero chance of succeeding. But Republicans would rather fail at impeachment than succeed at anything else.”