Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power
WASHINGTON – House Republicans spent years ignored or drowned out in a Democratic Congress, but revelations about President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents handed two of his fiercest critics ammunition to investigate just as they became committee chairmen.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has already drawn the spotlight with rapid-fire questions pelting Democratic witnesses during hearings investigating former President Donald Trump. Now he leads the Judiciary Committee and a special subcommittee created to investigate the Biden administration, and he can set the agenda.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky argued for greater scrutiny of the Biden family’s business dealings even before winning the gavel of the Oversight and Accountability Committee. He and Jordan pledged aggressive oversight on a variety of subjects even before they were sworn in now that the 2022 midterm elections handed control of the chamber to Republicans.
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With their gavels, Jordan and Comer are armed with subpoena power and the megaphone of committee hearings to antagonize Biden through the 2024 election.
Andy Wright, a former Oversight Committee staffer and director of legal policy for the Biden-Harris presidential transition who is a partner at K&L Gates, said investigations are no surprise because they often heat up under divided government. Lawmakers want to bolster their legislative and policy goals amid more hearings, depositions and subpoenas, he said.
“There are a lot of significant consequences and significant policy issues that are going to be lurking in the background in addition to the partisan theater," Wright said.
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The revelations about the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s former office at a think tank in Washington and at his Wilmington home added fuel to the fire of House Republicans eager to investigate the administration.
Jordan sent a letter Friday with Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding documents and communications about the records between Biden’s office and the Justice Department, FBI and special counsel, Robert Hur.
“At this point, where did Joe Biden NOT have classified documents?” Jordan asked in a tweet Friday.
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Comer sent letters Jan. 10 to the White House and National Archives and Records Administration asking for all documents and communications – and transcribed interviews – about Biden's failure to return classified documents he received as vice president.
Comer sent another letter Friday to the White House asking whether the president's son Hunter Biden had access to the documents at his Wilmington house because he had listed the address as his home until at least 2018.
"The Committee is concerned President Biden stored classified documents at the same location as his son resided while engaging in international business deals with adversaries of the United States," Comer wrote.
Who is Jim Jordan, head of a new panel on the 'weaponization' of government?
Jordan has nettled leaders of both parties. He received the presidential medal of freedom from Trump after defending him through several investigations. And Jordan was a founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus who occasionally led his own party leaders over spending and health care.
Former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, once called Jordan a “legislative terrorist.”
In addition to his leading the Judiciary Committee, Republicans agreed in a party-line vote to create for him a special “subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government” to investigate the Justice Department and FBI, including "ongoing criminal investigations." Targets for inquiries include:
The investigation of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The investigation of classified documents found during a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
Alleged Big Tech censorship from social media companies like Twitter and Facebook.
The Education Department’s relationship with local school boards.
A proposed "disinformation board" at the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats derided the inquiries as irrelevant grandstanding.
“We call that the tinfoil-hat committee in our caucus,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, Democratic Caucus chairman.
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Democrats said the committee would have broad power to investigate criminal cases. Critics seized on the potential participation of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., another Trump ally, who said last year that the FBI seized his cellphone and who has denied wrongdoing.
“Yet he has indicated he wants to be on this subcommittee so that he can undermine a criminal investigation into himself,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment. “My Republican counterparts can dress up the subcommittee with a menacing name, but let’s call it what it really is: the Republican committee to obstruct justice.”
Jordan defied subpoena from Jan. 6 committee
Jordan is no stranger to congressional inquiries. He was one of five House Republicans subpoenaed in the investigation of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Each refused to testify and called the panel illegitimate for how it was organized, even though federal courts upheld its subpoenas. The Jan. 6 panel urged Ethics Committee inquiries into Jordan, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and three others.
McCarthy said he would have testified if Republicans had been able to name their own representatives to the committee. McCarthy submitted nominees, but then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected Jordan and another lawmaker, and McCarthy withdrew all his nominees. Instead, Pelosi appointed then-GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
McCarthy said Jordan's new subcommittee was necessary to investigate questions such as why the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate but not Biden's home or office for confidential documents.
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"I think Congress has to investigate this," McCarthy said. "Why did they handle that differently?"
Democrats criticized the special subcommittee as a political ploy to protect Republican allies.
“Speaker McCarthy is essentially handing Mr. Jordan the power to target anything he doesn’t like, anything and anyone he deems unconstitutional, illegal or unethical,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. He called the panel “a deranged ploy by the MAGA extremists who have hijacked the Republican Party and now want to use taxpayer money to push their far-right conspiracy nonsense.”
Jordan, Comer can issue subpoenas on their own
A key tool the House voted to grant the subcommittee is the power for the chairman to issue subpoenas by himself. The Oversight Committee chairman traditionally had this power and the Democratic-led House granted it to the Jan. 6 panel, but it is unusual for congressional committees.
Without that authority, chairpersons seeking a subpoena must schedule a business meeting, ensure enough lawmakers are present to vote and go through sometimes rancorous debate. The advantage for Jordan and Comer is their negotiations to compel testimony will be a much easier threat.
“That means Congress is going to have more leverage to get what it wants when it’s trying to get information," said Wright, the former Oversight Committee staffer. “The big question is going to be: What does the new majority decide to spend its time on? In all these investigations, you start with zero information and have to pry it loose."
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Who is James Comer?
Comer, a former state lawmaker and agriculture commissioner who owned his own farm, rose to the top Republican slot on the Oversight Committee in his second full term in Congress. He won the high-profile gavel after only six years in office.
Comer had served six terms in the Kentucky state Legislature before becoming the state agriculture commissioner in 2011.
At the state agency and on the oversight panel, Comer focused on cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse.
Comer narrowly lost a campaign for governor in 2015 but counted himself out of another run this year because of the Oversight Committee chairmanship.
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What is the Oversight Committee investigating?
Comer plans to investigate Biden’s family because of concerns he profited from business deals of his relatives in Ukraine and China, which the president has denied. Comer's panel is also casting a wide net, and targets include:
Revealing wasteful spending on COVID-19 relief. A hearing is scheduled Feb. 1.
Fighting alleged government bullying of social media companies to suppress information.
Scrutinizing work-from-home rules for the federal workforce.
Comer has asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for documents by Jan. 25 about a reported 150 alerts from U.S. banks about suspicious transactions involving Hunter Biden and the president's brother James Biden.
The suspicious-transaction reports aren’t necessarily nefarious, covering transactions greater than $5,000. The department received an estimated 3.6 million suspicious-transaction reports last year.
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Comer also plans a hearing in February to question Twitter executives about accusations that the company censored news stories. He specifically cited stories in the New York Post about the Biden family's business activities.
“For years, the Biden family peddled influence and access around the world for profit, often at the expense of the nation’s interests,” Comer said. “The American people must know the extent of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s shady business deals and if these deals threaten national security and his decision-making as president.”
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, accused Republicans of pursuing debunked conspiracy theories and the "deep state.”
“Conspiracy theories and disinformation are already at a fever pitch in the new Congress,” Raskin said.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's prime antagonists in Congress: Meet Jim Jordan and James Comer
