(Headline USA) Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was reportedly meeting with several squishy Republicans in the hopes of getting them to abandon the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, according to Fox News.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee wants to prevent GOP lawmakers from formalizing the inquiry, which they’re expected to do during a vote on Wednesday.
To do this, he’s leveraging his personal relationships with House Republicans and trying to convince others that supporting the inquiry would hurt their political careers, sources told the outlet.
Those Republicans have reportedly been “especially receptive” to Raskin’s talking points about the Biden administration’s “record of cooperation with investigators.”
The House Oversight Democrats have also released a “fact sheet” dismissing the allegations of influence-peddling and corruption against Biden and his family members.
“Republicans may not be getting all of the facts from [House Oversight Chair James] Comer, so we are making sure that they have the full picture as they decide whether to endorse this impeachment effort,” a senior House Democratic aide explained.
The “fact sheet” emphasizes not only Joe Biden’s “cooperation” with House investigators, but also his successful firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin as a “culmination of a years-long effort by a bipartisan, international coalition to address and root out corruption in Ukraine.”
Biden’s firing of Shokin is at the heart of an allegation that he accepted bribes from Ukrainian officials to deter Shokin’s investigation into Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company on whose board that Biden’s son, Hunter, received a roughly million-dollar annual stipend to serve for a five-year period.
Other evidence compiled by the committee links the Bidens to payoffs from the Chinese company CEFC, which disbursed payments to Hunter and to Joe Biden’s brother James, as well as a 10% cut for the “big guy.”
Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to testify before the House Oversight Committee this month, but is reportedly refusing to provide testimony unless the hearing is public. Comer has threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress if he does not appear on the required date.
The White House has also downplayed Republicans’ allegations against the president, dismissing them as “conspiracy theories.”
Evidence throughout the inquiry has shown that Raskin knowingly lied to the public by downplaying and denying the credibility of whistleblowers who had exposed the FBI’s earlier investigation into the Bidens’ corruption.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨@RepJamesComer and Oversight Republicans are CALLING ON RANKING MEMBER JAMIE RASKIN to correct the record and APOLOGIZE FOR LYING to the American people about the Bidens’ business schemes.
Most recently, former U.S. Attorney Scott Brady’s testimony debunks… pic.twitter.com/xlPe6ZTYtk
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 26, 2023
