GOP to Investigate Biden's Family After Capturing House Majority

The Republican Party's narrow capture of the House majority is poised to transform the agenda in Washington, empowering GOP lawmakers to pursue conservative goals and vigorously challenge the policies of President Joe Biden and his administration. Come next year, Republicans have made clear, the January 6th select committee will be no more. Investigations into the president's son, Hunter Biden, will quickly begin. And GOP priorities like border security, parents' rights and defunding the IRS will be on fast tracks to the House floor. It's a familiar whiplash, reminiscent of what took place after earlier midterm contests in 2018 and 2010 that also ended one-party control of Washington. But as House Republicans regain power for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, their weaker-than-expected showing in the election has also left them without a decisive mandate from voters, complicating plans to aggressively take on Biden's White House. Republicans have made clear that a top priority for their new majority is to investigate. They are preparing to conduct a wide range of probes, from Hunter Biden's business dealings, to the withdrawal from Afghanistan to illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border and the billions of dollars in COVID spending that was stolen or spent frivolously. The morning after clutching the majority, a group of House Republicans presented those plans to investigate the Biden family as their first order of business come next year. At a press conference Thursday, Rep. James Comer, the incoming Oversight committee chair, and Rep. Jim Jordan, who is poised to be head of the powerful Judiciary Committee, narrowed in on the recently "uncovered evidence" about the president and his son, Hunter Biden. "To be clear: Joe Biden is the big gun. This evidence raises troubling questions about whether President Biden is a national security threat and about whether he is compromised by foreign governments," Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters. Over the past year, Republican lawmakers and their staff have been analyzing specific messages and financial transactions found on Hunter Biden's laptop and have also discussed issuing congressional subpoenas to foreign entities involved in paying Hunter Biden. The conversations have included talks of bringing on Republican lawyers and former Justice Department officials to help lead the investigations. One of those people is James Mandolfo, a federal prosecutor who recently left the Justice Department to become general counsel for Republicans on the oversight committee. Hunter Biden's taxes and foreign business work are already under federal investigation, with a grand jury in Delaware hearing testimony in recent months. While he never held a position on the presidential campaign or in the White House, Hunter Biden's membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China have long raised questions about whether he traded on his father's public service, including reported references in his emails to the "big guy." Joe Biden has said he's never spoken to his son about his foreign business. And there are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president in any way. Jordan said that as chairman he intends to elevate concerns about what he contends is an overly close relationship between the White House and the Justice Department "The only way you can hold people accountable and hopefully stop the behavior is to present it to the country," the Ohio lawmaker told reporters when asked if his committee would recommend criminal charges against Biden or his family members. The two men emphasized that they do not plan to investigate Hunter Biden's personal life. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to our newest channel Quicktake Explained: https://bit.ly/3iERrup Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake