Democrats accused Republicans on Wednesday of deliberately timing the release of evidence in their Hunter Biden investigation to distract from the fourth indictment of Donald Trump.
The accusation was included in a memo circulated by House Oversight Committee Democratic staff designed that provides talking points for members. It calls out Republicans for releasing the transcripts of their interview with an FBI agent who raised issues with the investigation into Hunter Biden on the same day former President Trump was set to be indicted in Georgia.
The document offers the same claim that Republicans make in reverse: GOP committee members say that every time damaging news about Hunter Biden is dropped, Trump gets indicted.
Top Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin had hammered Chairman James Comer for taking four weeks to release the transcript of an interview with a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) that they said undercut the GOP’s narrative.
House Oversight Democratic staff circulated a new memo Wednesday that points to suspect timing of the release of information about the Republican-led investigation of Hunter Biden
The memo specifically calls out Republicans for releasing the transcripts of their interview with an FBI agent on the same day former President Trump was set to be indicted in Georgia
Now, they accuse Comer of holding the transcript and not dropping it until Monday – the day Trump was indicted for the fourth time – this time in the Georgia election case. They also called out the chairman for giving the transcript to Fox News before releasing it publicly.
‘The SSA’s statements during this interview clearly debunked Republicans’ claims of political interference in DOJ’s investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden,’ the letter, from Democratic staffers to Democratic members, read.
‘Despite multiple calls by Ranking Member Raskin for Chairman Comer to publicly release the transcript and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions based on all of the facts, Chairman Comer waited four weeks to release the transcript and did so only after first providing it to Fox News.’
‘Monday’s release of the SSA’s transcript is the most recent episode in congressional Republicans’ campaign to weaponize Congress and this Committee to do the political bidding of former President Trump.’
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted the former president over charges related to his attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia in 2020.
The Democrats also note that Comer released the transcripts of Hunter business partner Devon Archer’s testimony on the same day Trump was arraigned on federal charges related to the January 6 Capitol riot.
The Democratic memo said both transcripts prove Republicans’ probe of the Biden family business deals to be a ‘complete and utter failure’ and accuse them of trying to ‘cherry-pick, distort, and mischaracterize facts.’
‘Democrats’ latest propaganda is another example of them acting as Biden family defense lawyers,’ a House Oversight GOP spokesperson said in response. ‘The Oversight Committee’s investigation has produced concrete evidence through bank records and witness testimony that reveals Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s corrupt influence peddling schemes.’
The memo admits Hunter Biden ‘appears to have engaged in conduct that is common in lobbying and government relations in Washington—trading on family names and Washington connections, and, in the case of Hunter Biden the “illusion of access” to his father.’
But, they say the investigation has ‘repeatedly found that President Biden never took any official action to benefit Hunter Biden, his clients, or his business partners.’
‘This radical misuse of congressional resources by Republican Members of Congress to boost Mr. Trump’s election prospects is no secret strategy.’
Monday’s newly released transcripts confirm IRS whistleblower testimony that the FBI attempted to interview Hunter Biden as part of their investigation into his tax and gun crimes but never got to do so.
Years into the Hunter Biden investigation, which began in 2018, the FBI decided to interview their target. The interview was to occur on December 8, 2020 – weeks after the presidential election. The FBI agent said he understood that Secret Service needed to be notified for safety reasons but said he intended to notify them at 8 a.m. the morning of the interview of their ‘intent’ to speak with Hunter.
But the evening before, the FBI agent learned both Secret Service and the Biden transition team had already been notified. ‘This essentially tipped off a group of people very close to President Biden and Hunter Biden and gave this group an opportunity to obstruct the approach of the witness.’
‘I felt it was people that did not need to know about our intent,’ he said. ‘I believe that the Secret Service had to be notified for our safety, for lack of confusion, for deconfliction, which we would do in so many other cases, but I didn’t understand why the initial notification.’
The agent was then told to give his contact information to Secret Service and not to approach the house but to wait outside for a call saying Hunter was ready for the interview. The agent said that he had never recalled being told to wait for a target to call and say they were ready for an interview.
The call never came and the agent had other interviews to conduct, so he left.
As far as the Biden transition team being clued in, ‘I don’t know why that would have happened,’ the agent said.
Democrats, led by ranking member Jamie Raskin, had hammered Chairman James Comer for taking four weeks to release the transcript of an interview with a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) that they said undercut the GOP narrative
!['Despite multiple calls by Ranking Member Raskin [above]for Chairman Comer to publicly release the transcript and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions based on all of the facts, Chairman Comer waited four weeks to release the transcript and did so only after first providing it to Fox News,' memo says](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/16/16/74387285-12413359-image-a-4_1692200482973.jpg)
‘Despite multiple calls by Ranking Member Raskin [above]for Chairman Comer to publicly release the transcript and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions based on all of the facts, Chairman Comer waited four weeks to release the transcript and did so only after first providing it to Fox News,’ memo says
The unusual interview attempt occurred under the Trump administration, while U.S. attorney David Weiss in Delaware was overseeing the Hunter Biden case. Weiss has since been appointed special counsel over the case, giving him greater independence from the main Department of Justice.
When asked if he had ‘ever known U.S. Attorney David Weiss to make prosecutorial decisions based upon political influence,’ the agent said ‘no.’
The Hunter Biden case remains ongoing after a plea deal blew up when the judge notified Hunter that pleading guilty to tax and gun crimes would not shield him from future charges, specifically mentioning failing to register as a foreign agent.
Meanwhile, the Archer testimony, which dropped on the day of Trump’s arraignment, revealed that Joe Biden had spoken with Hunter’s Business associates around 20 times over the course of 10 years. Archer did not claim to have ever heard Biden directly discuss business, but said having a then-vice president father on the phone sold the idea of access to foreign executives.