LOADINGERROR LOADINGWASHINGTON — The top two witnesses Republicans wanted won’t to call for Wednesday’s impeachment inquiry hearing won’t be there after all, and a third will have to do so from federal prison.Democrats, meanwhile, announced Tuesday they had invited Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian American with extensive knowledge of Republican efforts to dig up fake dirt on Joe Biden, to be their expert witness. Advertisement
In short: The hearing is already a bit of a mess.The impeachment inquiry itself, of course, has also been a bit of a mess, as Republicans have struggled to substantiate corruption allegations against the president. Republicans had hoped the president’s son, Hunter Biden, would testify this week alongside former business associates Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, all of whom have previously spoken to lawmakers in formal interviews behind closed doors. (Galanis was interviewed at a federal facility in Alabama where he’s serving 14 years for fraud.) Despite his previous willingness to testify in public, the president’s son refused a request earlier this month from House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to participate in a public hearing. Comer has nonetheless said he still expects the younger Biden to show up on Wednesday. In a Monday letter obtained by HuffPost, Archer’s attorney complained that nobody had contacted him about the hearing until late Friday afternoon, saying a previous request had apparently gone to the wrong lawyer. He said there wasn’t enough time to prepare Archer’s written testimony.Advertisement
“It is not remotely reasonable to ask an important witness in what is sure to be a closely-watched public hearing that the Committee has provocatively entitled ‘Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office’ to prepare witness testimony in one business day, and to prepare to give public testimony in less than three business days — particularly when he is traveling,” the lawyer said. Archer may have been Republicans’ best witness so far. He worked with Hunter Biden for years and helped the Ukrainian gas company Burisma recruit him to its board in 2014. Republicans have claimed Hunter Biden’s ties to Burisma prompted Joe Biden, when he was vice president in 2015, to make Ukraine fire a prosecutor looking into the company — an allegation State Department officials have repeatedly debunked and that the Treasury Department has essentially labeled as Russian propaganda. Archer told lawmakers during his interview last summer that he recalled Burisma officials asking Hunter Biden to “call D.C.” for help with unspecified government pressures in Decemb …
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In short: The hearing is already a bit of a mess.The impeachment inquiry itself, of course, has also been a bit of a mess, as Republicans have struggled to substantiate corruption allegations against the president. Republicans had hoped the president’s son, Hunter Biden, would testify this week alongside former business associates Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, all of whom have previously spoken to lawmakers in formal interviews behind closed doors. (Galanis was interviewed at a federal facility in Alabama where he’s serving 14 years for fraud.) Despite his previous willingness to testify in public, the president’s son refused a request earlier this month from House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to participate in a public hearing. Comer has nonetheless said he still expects the younger Biden to show up on Wednesday. In a Monday letter obtained by HuffPost, Archer’s attorney complained that nobody had contacted him about the hearing until late Friday afternoon, saying a previous request had apparently gone to the wrong lawyer. He said there wasn’t enough time to prepare Archer’s written testimony.Advertisement
“It is not remotely reasonable to ask an important witness in what is sure to be a closely-watched public hearing that the Committee has provocatively entitled ‘Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office’ to prepare witness testimony in one business day, and to prepare to give public testimony in less than three business days — particularly when he is traveling,” the lawyer said. Archer may have been Republicans’ best witness so far. He worked with Hunter Biden for years and helped the Ukrainian gas company Burisma recruit him to its board in 2014. Republicans have claimed Hunter Biden’s ties to Burisma prompted Joe Biden, when he was vice president in 2015, to make Ukraine fire a prosecutor looking into the company — an allegation State Department officials have repeatedly debunked and that the Treasury Department has essentially labeled as Russian propaganda. Archer told lawmakers during his interview last summer that he recalled Burisma officials asking Hunter Biden to “call D.C.” for help with unspecified government pressures in Decemb …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]