House Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer (R-Ky.), recently issued a subpoena to AT&T, a telecom giant, requesting access to over a decade’s worth of phone records linked to President Joe Biden’s son. This move was made discreetly by Comer, indicating a desire to gather more information and scrutinize the matter further.
HuffPost acquired a subpoena on March 6th that required AT&T to provide all records of user activity, such as texts and call logs, connected to Hunter Biden’s accounts dating back to 2011.
In their impeachment inquiry against the president, Republicans have formally demanded Hunter Biden’s phone records, as stated by Comer. Despite the examination of thousands of pages of Biden family bank records and over a dozen witness interviews, no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden has been uncovered thus far.
Last month, the impeachment endeavor faced a major setback with the announcement of charges by the Justice Department against an FBI informant. It was revealed that the informant had provided allegedly false statements, which had been a crucial piece of evidence in the case against Biden. Despite this setback, Republicans have continued their relentless pursuit for answers, as evidenced by the AT&T subpoena.
In a staff memo obtained by HuffPost, Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), strongly criticized the subpoena on Tuesday. They argued that the subpoena sought records for a period of 15 years, even though it specifically requested material since 2011.
In a recent development, the issuance of a subpoena requesting 15 years’ worth of Hunter Biden’s phone records has come to light. This latest move by Republicans further highlights their ongoing investigation, which has thus far failed to uncover any substantial evidence of an impeachable offense committed by President Biden. Instead, it appears to be a blatant attempt by the Chairman to target and harass the President and his family. Moreover, it seems to be driven by Donald Trump’s desire for political retribution and the amplification of Russian propaganda and disinformation.
Comer’s spokesperson did not respond to a comment request right away, while AT&T also did not provide an immediate response to comment requests.
Republicans have issued a number of subpoenas and interview requests since last year, although not all of them have been announced.
In the Democratic memo, Comer expressed his suspicion that the phone records may also include a personal phone line used by Joe Biden during his time as vice president.
According to Comer, Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business deals. He supports his claim by referencing the testimony of former associates of Hunter Biden, who stated that Hunter would put his father on speakerphone during their business discussions. However, these witnesses have also mentioned that Joe Biden only exchanged pleasantries during these conversations and did not discuss business matters.
During the investigation, a significant phone call has received considerable attention. According to Devon Archer, who worked alongside Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, the company requested Hunter Biden to make a call to Washington D.C. in December 2015 for assistance. Republicans have made an unsubstantiated claim that this phone call led to then-Vice President Joe Biden exerting pressure to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor.
In his recent deposition, Hunter Biden firmly denied ever using his connections in Washington to gain favors for Burisma. He categorically stated, “It never happened.”
