US House panel to ask president to testify in impeachment probe

[March 21, 2024]  By Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A House of Representatives committee plans to invite President Joe Biden to testify in Republicans' impeachment probe, the chairman said on Wednesday, the first time the panel has suggested calling him although it was improbable the president would accept.

"We need to hear ... from the president himself," James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said at the end of a nearly eight-hour-long hearing into the Biden family's business dealings.

Republicans sought to advance their months-long probe of Biden, while Democratic lawmakers dismissed the inquiry as baseless. Republicans in the House of Representatives allege, but have yet to prove, that Biden and members of his family improperly profited from policy decisions in which he took part while President Barack Obama's vice president from 2009-2017.

The White House has said the investigation is politically motivated and dismissed the hearing on Wednesday as "a sad charade" without addressing the invitation for Biden to testify.

Only three sitting presidents have voluntarily testified before congressional committees in the past, the most recent President Gerald Ford in 1974, according to a record compiled by the Senate. None of those occurred during an impeachment attempt.

During the occasionally contentious hearing, representatives heard from two former business associates of Biden's son, Hunter Biden -- Jason Galanis and Tony Bobulinski. They also heard from Lev Parnas, who had been an associate of former President Donald Trump.

Galanis, who appeared virtually from the prison where he is serving a sentence for unrelated fraud charges, and Bobulinski detailed conversations that included President Biden, though neither said the president spoke to them about their business activities with Hunter Biden.

The panel had invited Hunter Biden and business associate Devon Archer, but both declined. Hunter Biden's lawyer said the younger Biden was unable to attend due to a conflicting court hearing in California.

The panel nevertheless set up an empty chair and name tag for Hunter Biden. "Hunter Biden demanded a public hearing. I've given him one. Maybe he will show up," Comer said.

Democrats on the House panel invited Parnas, a businessman who worked with Trump's then-lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to try to uncover evidence of wrongdoing by Biden and his family in Ukraine ahead of the 2020 election in which Biden defeated Trump, a Republican.

U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, speaks to reporters ahead of closed deposition with members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee conducting an impeachment inquiry into the president, at the O'Neill House Office Building in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

Bobulinski, who worked in the financial investment industry, accused the president of being a "serial liar" and criticized some of the Democrats at the hearing. At one point, Bobulinski and Parnas sparred over each other's credibility as witnesses.

"That hearing was embarrassing for House Republicans. A total waste of time. It's time to move on from this sad charade. There are real issues the American people want us to address," said Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, in a statement.

VLADIMIR PUTIN MASK

Before the hearing began, a Democratic lawmaker donned a Vladimir Putin mask to accuse Republicans of falling for Russian disinformation.

"I just came to thank James Comer for taking all of our intelligence and using it in the committee," Representative Jared Moskowitz said from behind the mask on his way to the hearing. Moskowitz did not wear the mask inside the hearing.

An early source of information for the Republican probe was a former FBI informant since charged with lying that a Ukrainian businessman bribed Biden and his son. Prosecutors have said the informant had ties to Russian intelligence.

It was unclear when House Republicans would decide on next steps in the probe. Comer has said publicly that he was considering making criminal referrals instead of drafting articles of impeachment, though he has yet to say who or what crimes those referrals would target.

The Republicans' slim House majority will likely make impeachment difficult. The chamber held a second vote last month to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the administration's top border official, after a first vote failed.

The Democratic-led Senate, which has yet to take it up, will almost certainly vote to acquit Mayorkas.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)

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