A) Raskin: For months, Chairman Comer has asked America to trust that he has evidence of criminal wrongdoing by President Biden as Fox News anchors have questioned his persistent claims about that.
B) Raskin: Now, Hunter Biden’s own business partner has stated that: President Biden was not involved in his son’s business affairs, and that President Biden was never asked to, nor did he, take any official actions in relation to those business matters.
C) Raskin: Mr. Archer stated that President Biden and his son talked every day, especially after Beau Biden’s untimely death. He explained that, over the span of nearly a decade, he witnessed around 20 of those calls happen while other people were present in the room.
D) Raskin: Those calls were all about mundane subjects like the weather, geography, and other niceties and pleasantries. According to Mr. Archer, the calls were not about Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
E) Raskin: Mr. Archer also confirmed that Hunter Biden was selling the ‘illusion’ of access to his father..t’s clear that Chairman Comer is simply chasing the long-discredited bribery allegations first peddled and trumpeted by Rudy Giuliani and his team.
F) Raskin: As much as Chairman Comer tries to pretend that there’s something new and shocking here, today’s interview merely provides further confirmation that he is pursuing a baseless re-run of allegations
G) Raskin: Today, Mr. Archer explicitly stated that he is unaware of any $5 million payments to the Bidens and did not believe the allegations of bribery in the FBI Form 1023 were credible, thus debunking the unverified tip sheet Republicans released last week.
H) Raskin: Furthermore, Mr. Archer explained that it was common for Mr. Zlochevsky and other Ukrainian executives to brag, exaggerate, and lie about purported payments. Mr. Archer explained he was not aware of any actual evidence of corruption
I) Raskin: If you take Chairman Comer’s word that this investigation is ‘only about President Biden,’ then his obsessive fascination with the President’s son makes it obvious that his ‘priority investigation’ today is just a desperate effort to distract everyone
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1) From a source familiar with the transcribed interview with former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer.
Archer testified there was value of adding Hunter Biden to Burisma’s board was “the brand.”
2) The argument was that then-Vice President Joe Biden brought the most value to “the brand.” Archer also stated that Burisma would have gone under if not for “the brand.”
3) In December 2015, Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and Vadym Pozharski, an executive of Burisma, placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from DC regarding the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.
Shokin was investigating Burisma for corruption.
1) The privileged resolution to censure Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is not yet “live” and likely won’t come up this week.
2) However, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) indicates he will make the resolution “live” in the coming days and force the House to tangle with the measure late next week, before the House’s August recess.
3) An increasing number of Republicans have indicated they would vote to censure Santos. That includes Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY). Fox is told privately that some Republicans are tired of the foot-dragging by the House Ethics Committee.
1) The Hitchhiker's Guide to Tuberville's holds on senior military promotions. In the Senate, one senator can hold up anything.
And, a determined supermajority of senators can overcome a blockade erected by that sole senator on a nomination or a bill. It just takes time
2) That aforementioned supermajority can thwart the tactics of the lone senator bottlenecking the parliamentary traffic. Eventually. Senators must file “cloture” and later “invoke” cloture. That’s the Senate term for overcoming a filibuster.
3) But what happens when a single senator holds up an entire slate of nominees? Or, in this case, the routine promotions of 250 military flag officers? These are the top military leaders in the country.
1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Where the Defense Bill Stands In the House After It Tilted To The Right
House Republicans are optimistic they can conclude debate and pass the annual defense policy bill today.
2) This comes after the measure shifted well to the right after adoption of amendments important to social conservatives.
The House adopted amendments oveturning the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
3) The House also voted to bar service members using the military’s health care system from receiving reimbursements for seeking transgender-related procedures.
The House also rejected an amendment to slash assistance for Ukraine.
1) Schumer: This disappointing and cruel ruling shows the callousness of the MAGA Republican-controlled Supreme Court.
2) Schumer: The hypocrisy is clear: as justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests.
3) Schumer: The fight will not end here. The Biden administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.
A) Scalise on Fox Business: What we've been finding out in these investigations is incredibly alarming and disturbing. The American people should be alarmed as well. And we're just scratching the surface.
B) Scalise: You see even the disparity between the IRS, which says a little over $8 million they've identified in payments to Hunter Biden that we're not reported, Jamie, Commerce committees getting bank records that show it could be over $40 million.
C) Scalise: You saw the audio recordings. You see the whistleblowers. We have two different whistleblowers at the IRS, including one who's a Democrat who have said that they see even more alarming things.