Biden Declines to Attend House Oversight Panel Hearing

President Joe Biden declined the House Oversight Committee’s invitation to testify in the panel’s impeachment inquiry regarding him and his family’s business dealings.

Last month, Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., invited the president to participate in a public hearing to provide sworn testimony about his involvement in the Biden family businesses.

Republicans have alleged that Biden engaged in influence peddling in his family’s business affairs while he was vice president.

This Monday, the president’s counsel conveyed Biden’s response to Comer.

“As our Office has demonstrated, and as you acknowledged in a recent fundraising email, your impeachment investigation has concluded. It is high time for the House to prioritize issues important to the American people rather than continuing to waste time and taxpayer resources on this partisan spectacle,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, wrote in a letter to Comer.

“Therefore, we respectfully decline your invitation for President Biden to testify.”

Comer criticized Biden for this decision.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Biden family,” Comer stated in a press release. “Just like his son, Hunter Biden, President Biden is unwilling to testify publicly about the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling. This is not surprising, given that President Biden continues to deny his connections with his son’s business associates, even when his son affirmed under oath during a deposition that they existed.

“It is disappointing that President Biden refuses to address questions before the American public and evade the simple, direct queries we included in the invitation. Why is the White House finding it so challenging to respond to these questions? The American people deserve transparency from President Biden, not more deceit.”

Sauber accused Comer and the House Republicans of promoting a “catalog of unfounded allegations.”

“Your Committee’s so-called ‘impeachment inquiry’ has only managed to reveal a wealth of evidence demonstrating that, indeed, the President has committed no wrongdoing,” Sauber expressed. “Yet, rather than acknowledging this reality, your letter dated March 28, 2024, contains the same set of baseless accusations that have been thoroughly debunked and disproven by the very witnesses you have summoned before your Committee and the numerous documents you have obtained.

“Your insistence on perpetuating these baseless and unsupported accusations despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary clarifies one thing about your investigation: Facts hold no importance to you.”