Are the Biden investigations flopping?: Republicans in Congress have launched a series of investigations into the president, his family, and all things Hunter Biden. There’s little indication that any of it has caught on in any huge way with the general public.
Hunter Biden Off The Hook?
Ever since they took over the House of Representatives in January, Republicans have been vowing to step up investigations of President Joe Biden. This has mostly been centered in the House Oversight Committee, with the House leadership also forming a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, under the auspices of the House Judiciary Committee. There has also been an investigation of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
The committees have been very active, holding hearings on everything from “The Twitter Files” to international business deals involving the president’s son Hunter Biden.
However, a Vox story this week noted that it doesn’t appear any of the investigations are breaking through in any huge way. The GOP is “still looking for their next Benghazi,” but they don’t appear to have found it. It is early in the current Congress, but so far, it’s not breaking through.
The Republicans on the Oversight Committee have sought financial records from associates of the president’s son Hunter Biden, and have uncovered information about a business deal that led to payments from a Chinese entity to several Biden relatives in early 2017. But the committee does not appear to have established any wrongdoing by the president himself. The New York Times reported that the committee “hunts for evidence” that those business deals were improper.
“So far, these investigations seem to be flopping. They don’t seem to be sticking in the public consciousness,” Vox correspondent Christian Paz writes. “They haven’t uncovered page one news about Hunter Biden’s laptop, or about the origins of Covid-19, or about a supposed government conspiracy to silence conservatives on Twitter. A bit more than two months into Republican control of the House, plenty of these investigations are well underway. Hearings have been held, letters sent, witnesses summoned, and hours spent appearing on Fox News.”
Also, while the president’s approval ratings remain low, none of the investigations have made Biden’s re-election “untenable,” which doesn’t seem to have worked, Vox said.
The outlet also reported on polling which shows that the investigations aren’t breaking through with voters.
“Half of American adults believe Republicans are overreaching in their oversight of the Biden administration, up from the 46 percent who said so in a February poll and the 30 percent who said so in January,” Vox said. “The number who view the GOP’s investigations as a form of overreach is also rising among political independents, while Republican support for the investigations is remaining steady.”
In addition, PPP’s Congressional Integrity poll found that when respondents are asked, “Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statement: these investigations are political stunts aimed at hurting the Biden administration?”, 39 percent said “strongly agree” and 15 percent said that they “somewhat agree.”
In addition, when people in that poll were asked “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of James Comer?,” the House Oversight Committee chairman, 63 percent answered that they have no opinion, while 13 percent answered “favorable.” Were the committee’s investigations breaking through, there’s a good chance that Comer, the face of them, would be more of a household name.
The Biden probes, at least so far, recall the many investigations during Barack Obama’s presidency, also mostly originated from the House Oversight Committee. Little of that led anywhere, and Obama remains the only president since Watergate to never face an investigation by a special counsel or independent counsel. There was a select committee on the Benghazi attack that made lots of news in the later part of the Obama Administration, but its most memorable finding was the existence of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, rather than anything having to do with Benghazi itself.
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Expertise and Experience:
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
