Oversight Chairman Comer Shoots Down Hunter Biden’s Offer to Publicly Testify
Hunter has never played by the rules. Why would he want to start now?
Hunter Biden told Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer he would testify before the entire Oversight Committee instead of a closed-door deposition.
The committee served Hunter with a subpoena to appear at a deposition on December 13.
🚨STATEMENT ON ABBE LOWELL LETTER🚨
“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans.
“Our lawfully issued subpoena to Hunter Biden requires him to appear for a deposition on…
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) November 28, 2023
If I recall correctly, the other witnesses in the Biden family dealings investigations have testified behind closed doors.
The entire deposition will have a transcript. I know the Republicans and Democrats will cherry-pick which parts they release, but don’t we always receive the entire transcript?
Hunter’s lawyer sent a letter to Comer with her client’s request.
You have to get to the last page, though, to read the official request.
Instead, Abbe Lowell, a supposed professional lawyer, takes up two pages to lob insults at Comer and President Donald Trump with a few rainbow-colored sprinkles to make her client sound like an upstanding citizen.
Is Lowell 12? Sheesh:
Your fishing expedition has become Captain Ahab chasing the great white whale. It is no wonder so many news articles report your own Republican colleagues criticizing your proceedings and commenting that your time would be better spent on critical issues facing the country.
However, with the likelihood that you will not listen to the many trying to end your partisan crusade, we respond specifically to your subpoena to Hunter Biden. We have seen you use closed door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public.
“Unlike members of the Trump family, Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business nor ever served in the White House or in any public office,” Lowell tried to claim.
OK, lady.
Private? He served on the Ukraine energy board, has gone on numerous talk shows, brags about his “paintings,” and puts on public “art” shows. He is almost always with his daddy.
When I think of a private person, I think of Tiffany Trump or Sasha and Malia Obama. I’d say Barron, but he’s a minor, so it’s obvious why he’s not putting himself in the public eye.
We know why Hunter wants to appear in public. The man is a narcissist. We also know the hearings in front of committees become a clown show, a theater where politicians can hear themselves talk and publish talking points for their campaigns.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Like the rest of the Biden Crime Syndicate, if his lips are moving he is lying. Let the evidence shine.
He used to be a “Trumpworld” lawyer, ya know. He was Jared & Ivanka’s attorney.
Was he lying back then, too, I wonder? We’ll never know, as long as James Comer has anything to say about it.
Ironically, the fact that Comer’s “investigated” Biden family members and no one else (including close relatives of a certain former president who were working for the administration and in the private sector at the same time) will make his subpoenas, unenforceable, as it shows that they lack a bona fide legislative purpose.
Even more ironically, Donald Trump’s ultimately doomed effort to prevent the release of his tax returns is the source of that precedent.
I’d like to see Hunter answer the Committee’s questions, but they’re not going to be able to force him to do it behind closed doors or otherwise on their terms. Those subpoenas are toilet paper. Thanks, 2/3 Supreme Court Justices Donald Trump appointed! (Barrett wasn’t seated until a few months after the decision).
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-715_febh.pdf
No idea who you’re talking about.
Who is he?
Not Hunter’s lawyer –she’s a woman.
Hunter’s lawyer is a 71-year-old man. His middle name is David, for Chrissakes.
Huh? No he’s not, unless he has recently transitioned.
But the idea that Lowell was some sort of “Trump world” lawyer is ludicrous. Yes, he represented Ivanka and Jared in the Russia hoax investigation. He can do that But his entire career has been spent working with and for Democrats. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. He even ran for elected office as a Democrat.
And no, the subpoena is enforceable and will be enforced. Comer is not investigating Trump because there’s nothing to investigate. There are no allegations before the committee against him. This is an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, for bribery; Hunter, as his bag man, is a central witness and he will be compelled to testify or he will be prosecuted.
So will Hunter get the same treatment as Trump associates received if he contests the subpoena? Will the DOJ put him in leg irons?
Nope
Steve Bannon’s the only one who faced criminal contempt charges, and I don’t think he was clapped in leg irons.
Ironically, the basis for Hunter’s resistance to the subpoena (that it lacks a genuine legislative purpose) is a precedent DJT set in the Mazars case (regarding his tax returns).
Says the Supreme Court (Thomas and Alito JJ dissenting):
“ Congress may not issue a subpoena for the purpose of “law enforcement,” because “those powers are assigned under our Constitution to the Executive and the Judiciary.” Quinn, 349 U. S., at 161. Thus Congress may not use subpoenas to “try” someone “before [a] committee for any crime or wrongdoing.” McGrain, 273 U. S., at 179. Congress has no “ ‘general’ power to inquire into private affairs and compel disclosures,” id., at 173–174, and ‘there is no congressional power to expose for the sake of exposure,’ Watkins, 354 U. S., at 200. ‘Investigations conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to ‘punish’ those investigated are indefensible.’
Third, courts should be attentive to the nature of the evidence offered by Congress to establish that a subpoena advances a valid legislative purpose. The more detailed and substantial the evidence of Congress’s legislative purpose, the better. See Watkins, 354 U. S., at 201, 205 (preferring such evidence over “vague” and “loosely worded” evidence of Congress’s purpose). That is particularly true when Congress contemplates legislation that raises sensitive constitutional issues, such as legislation concerning the Presidency“
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-715_febh.pdf
I don’t see what you are getting at. Mazars has nothing to do with this. Congress is investigating Pres. Biden and Hunter is a direct witness of the alleged corruption. In fact, he is at the heart of it.
Trump v. Mazars is the most recent statement of the law regarding congressional subpoenas. It’s the test of whether the courts will enforce Comer’s subpoena of Hunter Biden. So it has *everything* to do with this.
Nope
As diver64 says, Nope. The Mazars decision is irrelevant; in that case the Dems were pretending to be looking into drafting some kind of legislation about presidential tax returns, so they had urgent need to take testimony from one particular president’s accountants. The court called them on their bullshit.
Here there is no proposed legislation. This is an impeachment inquiry, and impeachment is solidly in the House’s domain. It’s not as if there’s some mystery here; everyone including you knows that Joe Biden has been taking bribes for years, and Hunter has been acting as his bag man for a 50% cut. All that remains is to produce actionable evidence for this criminal conspiracy, and Hunter’s testimony is obviously relevant and central.
What an interesting and productive discussion we’re having.
Steve Bannon also offered to testify in open session.
Did Abbe change his persuasion? That would be two publicity stunts.
I wonder whether Abbe Lowell is being paid in Chinese currency or U.S. greenbacks.
That doesn’t even make sense. Hunter’s relationship with CEFC related to their desire to look for deals in the US. Obviously they were paying him USD.
China has more USD than it knows what to do with. That’s why they buy so much paper from the Treasury. There’s nothing else to buy with $6 trillion. This has been the case for decades because of the balance of trade (have you ever seen an item with a “made in China” mark on it? They’re pretty rare, I know, but I’ll bet you have). US businesses send USD (paper) to China, China sends *stuff* to the US, then uses its “profit” to buy Treasury Securities (a different kind of paper).
It wasn’t a serious question. Obviously Hunter didn’t accept his bribes in funny money. Only solid US dollars. What, did you think Burisma paid him in hryvnia?!
I believe this at least the second time this site (possibly this author) has misidentified Abbe Lowell as a woman. It kind of kills your credibility.
What does it matter if a guy with a girl’s name is identified as a girl or not? The guy is a lowlife and a crappy lawyer. That’s all that matters, really.
What does it matter if someone personally knows a lawyer or not? What would that have to do with credibility of any sort? Someone can think that Jethro Tull is a person but that doesn’t have any effect on their knowledge of Tull’s music.
Actually, it matters more than you and others may acknowledge and should be called out. This is not at all like Jethro Tull, particularly because of the venue, where people should know who he is. Still no correction after 6 hours.
It’s not material, in the least. Whether Abbe is a guy or a girl is something that doesn’t matter.
Also, perhaps she’s calling Abbe a “she” on purpose? I would. He’s probably had to deal with people thinking he was a girl all his life and it really grates on him.
At least he’s not a girl named “Stanley”. Now, THAT was seriously messed up!
Of course it’s not about the story, but the REPORTING. It was a careless error and there is no harm to say so because it might lead others to then repeat the mistake and lose their own credibility. It should be corrected.
And if on purpose, how material is that?
In any event, the gambit is as silly as the idea that Lowell is a she.
Jethro Tull IS a person. He wrote one of the first books on “scientific agriculture,” entitled “Horse Hoeing Husbandry,” “horse hoe” being an archaic name for a plow.
(See, Professor Woodbury? I did learn something!)
But he never wrote any music and he never sang Skating Away On the Thin Ice.
It matters because Abbe Lowell is not some obscure person, he’s been a power player in DC for decades, and calling him “her” indicates that the writer has no idea who he is.
And since when is Abbe a girl’s name? The girl’s name is Abby. Abbe is a diminutive for Abraham.
Not for any of the Abrahams I have ever known or heard of. All of the nicknames for Abraham that I’ve heard had long “a”s – Abe, Aibie, …
I’m not saying that a short “a” Abbe isn’t a nickname but it is not one that I had heard before. When I hear the name “Abbe” with a short “a” and a long “e” I think, “girl”.
That’s because you’re hearing “Abby” with a Y. Abbe should properly be pronounced with a long E and a short E, but that’s hard for Americans to say, so it’s usually pronounced the same as “Abby”. Like Jesse and Jessie, or Francis and Frances. You can’t tell them apart by ear.
Abbe isn’t a girl’s name. It’s French for “Abbot”, and for lower-ranking clergy, who were always men. It’s a strange thing to name your son, but would be much stranger for your daughter.
Did Abbe use a he / him or she / her pronoun after the name, in todays environment that is the only we know how someone identifies.
Gave a hint above to the author about her mistake, by asking about Lowell’s persuasion. There is nothing improper with pointing out a basic error, which still has not been fixed..
Credibility comes from yelling the audience what it wants to hear, not from “factual accuracy” or “understanding what you’re talking about”. It’s very simple.
Huh. Well, hell, I didn’t know that, either.
The part about “Is Lowell 12? Sheesh” can still stand, though.
“Unlike members of the Trump family, Hunter is a private person who has never worked in any family business …” Ok counselor, perhaps you could tell us, because I’m curious, what exactly is the Biden family business?
We already know that, it’s selling the office of Brandon the pedophile
He seems to be implying there isn’t one. Is English your first language?
Then WHY were they getting paid millions from Ukraine and China??
Who’s “they”?
I know that Hunter Biden was paid a salary by Burisma, which is a Ukrainian business corporation. More accurately, Hunter’s salary was paid to a Delaware HoldCo he controls called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC and then passed along to Hunter as a “loan”, which is part of why Hunter ended up in trouble with the IRS.
I also know that Hunter received about $5m from CEFC, a now-defunct Chinese business corporation, in August 2017. The actual payment was in the form of a $6m loan to a Delaware HoldCo, Hudson West III LLC, that Hunter controlled. How do I know that? It’s in Hudson West’s fricking tax returns. How secretive!
https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/T15-Exhibit-3A-HWM-2017-Hudson-West-III-Form-1120-Filed-with-IRS_WMRedacted.pdf
Do people report illegal transactions on their tax returns?
Anyway, I digress. You can’t make a payment to an unincorporated association like “the Biden family”, whatever the eff that’s supposed to mean. You can only make payments to an individual or a legal entity like a corporation.
If I get $100 for my birthday, that’s not a payment to my brother, or my dad, or my grandfather, or whoever. It’s a payment to me. If you want to show that the structure of the payment is just a ruse and the real payee is my dad, you’d need evidence of that. And if you wanted to say that my dad’s receipt of the payment was a crime, you’d have to explain why. The payment wouldn’t be illegal on its face.
Doesn’t anybody around here know any law?
And what did they pay him for? What services did he provide them, and how could those services possibly have been worth that kind of money, especially since he had no relevant skills or knowledge at all? Don’t pretend you don’t understand what’s plain and obvious before everyone’s nose, that the money was bribes. And who were the bribes for? Not Hunter. Nobody has ever bribed him. Why would anyone want to? But we know the answer to that too; we know the bribes were not for him but for his father.
We also know what his cut was — 50%, which strikes me as very generous; I don’t know what the market rate is for a bag man, but I can’t imagine it’s that high. But he complained to his daughter that it was too low, and he expected to keep more than half of the take.
Incidentally, Donald Trump grossed about $5.4m while he was president from the 70% state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which has leased space in Trump Tower since 2008.
Maybe Comer should look into that when he has a spare moment.
Why should he look into that? What’s there to look into? They leased the space and paid rent. How is that suspicious or questionable?
The only American released by Hamas was a blood relative of a purchaser of Hunter Biden’s “art.” Want your kidnapped relative free? Buy some Hunter Biden “art.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-joe-artwork-berges-gallery-elizabeth-hirsh-naftali-2023-7
https://archive.is/wpIsE
Hunter discovered his artistic talent the same day his daddy became president. Immediately his art work became very valuable commanding top dollar among his democrat clientele. However, appraisers warn it will become worthless the day after his daddy leaves office.
I’ve been digging around, but I can’t confirm that they’re blood relatives. Liz Hirsch Naftali is Abigail Mor Edan’s great-aunt, but I can’t out if Abigail Mor Edan is a Hirsch (in which case she’d be a blood relative) or a Naftali (in which case she wouldn’t).
Liz Hirsch Naftali mentioned speaking to her brother-in-law during Abigail’s captivity (that’d be Abigail’s grandfather), but it’s not clear if this person is Silvio Naftali’s brother or Liz Hirsch Naftali’s sister Jennifer’s husband. Again, if the former is the case, then Liz Hirsch Naftali and Abigail Mor Edan are not “blood” relations.
Anyway, surely you don’t mean to suggest that Abigail, the youngest American hostage, should have been kept captive because her grandmother’s sister (or, as the case may be, her grandfather’s brother’s wife) bought a Hunter Biden painting? That’d be kind of heartless of you, no?
Do you know if anybody other than Hamas even had a say in which hostages Hamas released? That seems unlikely. I hear Hamas has just been giving the IDF lists of names before each daily release.
What if any evidence is there that Joe Biden or anyone else in the US government had any say in this?
https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/major-democratic-donor-hunter-biden-art-buyers-3-year-old-american-relative
Solomon is seldom off base.
If you don’t believe that story by Madeleine Hubbard on Just The News how about an actual interview of Hirsch Naftali on NBC?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-3-year-old-kidnapped-hamas-reveals-harrowing-details-rcna124883
You sure didn’t look around too hard.
I know Liz Hirsch Naftali is Abigail Mor Edan’s great aunt. What I don’t know is whether that’s a blood relation (as the opening post says) or a marital one.
Did you read what I wrote?
I try to not read as much as possible of posts from trolls that parachute in with nonsense. As for blood relation, who cares? Aunt is an aunt whether blood or by marriage.
I’m not the one who brought it up.
And remember.
Joe Biden is not ‘in business’ with Hunter.
Joe Biden IS the business.
Without The Big Guy, Hunter HAS NO BUSINESS.
That is, in fairness, the case for most people. If your dad had been a Sentinelese tribesman, I doubt you’d even have a computer. The luck of the draw is a big part of life.
We’re all so grateful you’re here to explain that all (away) for us.
I please to aim
Troll
You’re deliberately changing the subject. Joe Biden didn’t give Hunter a good education and moral upbringing, allowing him to become a productive person in this land of opportunity. Hunter does not earn a living; his “business” consists entirely of selling his father’s services.
Note that he is not “influence peddling”. That means selling your own influence with powerful people, which is legitimate and protected by the first amendment. But he is not doing that, because he has no influence. He is directly selling his father’s services, and that is a crime.
Is it really that important where he perjures himself?
James Comer seems to think so.
Duuuuh, I wonder why?
Don’t feed the troll
“Abbe Lowell, a supposed professional lawyer”
He’s every bit as capable as Karinge Gom Jabbar, Professional Girl Press Secretary.
I don’t think so. Hunter wants to testify in public so that he can refuse to answer some questions claiming that it’s sensitive or personal information.
He also wants the testimony to be public so that he can make wild accusations against unrelated third parties and can spew idiotic stories to divert attention.
This is a pseudo-legal strategy. Think of it in terms of Hunter having sued MacIsaac, the guy he took his laptop to and then forgot about and refused to pay a few hundred dollars to get back. Then he sued the guy for having his stuff that he also claimed was not his stuff.
Abbe Lowell is a 71 year-old man. You have REALLY not been paying attention if you don’t know that.
He’s been Hunter’s lead lawyer on all his civil matters since February (his most famous clients before this one were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump).
Lowell also took over Hunter’s criminal defense from Chris Clark in July after Comer and friends successfully intimidated US Attorney David Weiss into reneging on the plea deal (ironically, this political interference will probably result in the dismissal of all the charges against Hunter on Fifth Amendment grounds).
Chris Clark had to withdraw as counsel because he’ll be a key defense witness, having conducted the plea negotiations. No one can be a witness and an advocate in the same case; it’s a conflict of interest.
Abbe’s letter today was brief because it was aimed at the media, particularly the “mainstream” outlets that have done such a criminally ****ty job of covering this. And whadda ya know? It looks like it worked! Even legalinsurrection.com is now now apprised of certain extremely basic facts about Hunter Biden’s defense!
Lowell has written several much longer letters this year. I’d recommend taking a look at some of them if you’re interested in hearing both sides of this story and not just being a shill for James Comer’s psy op. By all means, take Comer’s side if you want, but at least *know* there IS another side.
The best place to start is this November 4, 2023 letter to Matthew Graves, US Attorney for the District of Columbia requesting an investigation of Tony Bobulinski for lying to the FBI at his interview on Oct 23, 2020. I don’t think an investigation is likely (it’d be a political hornet’s nest), that’s not really the point of the letter.
The letter presents Hunter’s (and to a certain extent, Joe’s) side of the CEFC story (including James Gilliar’s “10% for the big guy ?” email!) and stands as probably the single clearest explanation of why the votes aren’t there to impeach.
If you read nothing else, read this:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24117233-231007-letter-to-us-attorney-graves
Another good place to start is this letter to Jason Smith, sent after the Ways & Means Committee voted to publish a bunch of Hunter’s tax return information provided by Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23865634-230630-hunter-biden
Lowell’s counsel of record in a lawsuit Hunter commenced in respect of the IRS stuff. The IRS hasn’t filed an answer yet, but I’d recommend reading the complaint to get a sense of the issues:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67803785/biden-v-united-states-internal-revenue-service/
Lowell’s also acting for Hunter in his claims against Garrett Ziegler:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67788762/biden-v-ziegler/
Rudy Giuliani and his lawyer, Robert Costello:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.899829/gov.uscourts.cacd.899829.1.0.pdf
And John Paul Mac Isaac, the blind computer repairman (this one is a counterclaim):
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23712734-hunter-biden-counterclaim
If you’re interested in that last one, Hunter has a summary judgment motion coming on for hearing on January 4. I’m pumped for that one.
Oh, lastly, you might have heard that Biden also has a motion pending to subpoena Donald Trump and Bill Barr in his criminal trial, based on the common knowledge that they interfered in the investigation. Joe Ziegler alluded to that in his questioning by the Ways & Means Committee (pages 20-21 of the transcript, comments re SSA Matt Kutz):
https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Whistleblower-2-Transcript_Redacted.pdf
Here’s the motion for the subpoenas:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.82797/gov.uscourts.ded.82797.58.0.pdf
I mean, this is just the tip of the iceberg. You really should look into some of this stuff, as these are the arguments that are going to be made at trial, WITH EVERYBODY WATCHING, if Comer somehow drums up enough votes to impeach.
LOL.
Dude …
You’re already done reading all that?
LOL. Go home, Abbe. Or maybe you’re just Abbe’s pet schnauzer.
You’re a joke. Everyone knows exactly who and what Hunter Biden is. It’s not as if the guy is great at keeping secrets and acting quietly and stealthily. The guy is a walking disaster field.
It’s really amazing … the ridiculous junk that some people think they can actually sell to anyone, these days.
Go crawl back under your rock.
I don’t find that argument very convincing. .
Abbe’s pet,
When you write drivel like this:
only a fool would even try to convince you of anything. Years and years of “investigation” (that should have been completed in 3 weeks, tops) in order to bring the most ridiculous and dirty plea deal anyone could have even imagined. Either you are truly as stupid as you sound or you are just completely committed to this idiocy. either way, there is no logical argument that would make a dent in that skull of yours.
You are a joke. Keep putting up a wall of links to silly filings and idiotic rantings (like that last letter from Miss Abbe, which is a complete joke, itself. Go home and tell yourself how clever and beautiful you are …
That isn’t drivel; it’s true. There was a signed plea agreement and the DOJ reneged on it due to political pressure. It doesn’t matter how much you dislike the accused or how bad you think the deal was; walking away from the deal at the altar due to political pressure was a breach of contract and a Fifth Amendment violation.
Prosecutors are the ones who make prosecutorial decisions, not officious showboaters like Comey.
You’re a ****ing shill. You’re not responding substantively because I don’t think you know how.
No worries; I’ll leave you to your shilling. Personally, I couldn’t live like that, but you do you. Have fun taking strong positions on things without even hearing the other side’s argument first.
I mean, Christ, man. Imagine Jack Smith cut a plea deal with Trump and then welched on it in court because Democrats in Congress thought it was too lenient.
You think Trump and his lawyers might have something to say about that?
Don’t feed the troll
This is true.
This is ridiculously untrue. If you seriously thought this, then you have really not been paying attention. I’d say his most famous client was Bill Clinton, but that’s a judgment call; there have been quite a few other famous clients as well. But there is no way that the Kushners are anywhere near his most famous clients.
The deal was corrupt. Comer didn’t intimidate anyone; the judge made the prosecutor say the deal out loud, and then Hunter rejected it. And no, there will be no dismissal, not unless it comes before a corrupt judge.
The only intimidation was a threat of making it public that this deal was – or Hunter believed it was – designed to covertly protect him from prosecution from a wide range of serious charges, related and unrelated, by having him plead guilty and get a slap on the wrist for the least serious of them. This wasn’t like getting Al Capone for tax fraud because they couldn’t prove murder; it would be like giving Al Capone community service for tax evasion instead of 11 years for tax fraud, then hiding in the deal that he’d be protected from ever being prosecuted for anything else, even though they already had the evidence to convict him of other crimes with long sentences.
The judge noticed that the deal was unclear as written. She insisted the prosecutor clarify it. The prosecutor did – removing any hint of protection for unrelated crimes. Hunter wasn’t happy that now he could admit to some crimes, do a little time or community service for them, then be right back in court for something with a 20-year sentence. And that was just the gun charges…
Hunter is a private person in that he was never officially a part of the administration so I think that is what is meant. As for the insults at the end of Lowell’s missive, very unprofessional.
Whether the spell check turned him into her or whatever, I’m not that put off by the occasional typo if the story itself is correct. People who nitpick like this need a hobby.
Calling a man “lady” isn’t a typographical error. If it was intended as an insult, it’d be immature, but understandable. The fact of the matter is that Mary Chastain, the XY male human who wrote this piece, had never heard of Abbe Lowell before today, which seriously impacts his (Mary’s) credibility, suggesting that he (Mary Chastain, a masculine person with broad shoulders and a full beard) has somehow never heard of Abbe David Lowell despite him (Abbe) being in the news nonstop all year.
Apologies if I inadvertently referred to Mary Chastain (who, again, has male sexual organs and presents and identifies as a man) as a man. THAT WAS JUST A TYPO.
Jesus Christ, how pathetic of a sycophant can you be? You should hang your head in shame.
“Typo”! LOL
It was all a pipe dream.
I think it’s very important that America have *filtered* transparency from the Oversight Committee.
The people can’t be trusted to see the testimony themselves; they might reach the wrong conclusions. All we need is a summary from James Comer, the most honest and uncynical legislator in the history of the Republic.
And we ABSOLUTELY have no right to know what’s being discussed when the committee goes “off the record”. We’re not entitled to know that!
For example, observe the below exchange from Joe Ziegler’s testimony this summer. When Ziegler was asked a question about why his supervisor was documenting his Sixth Amendment concerns on the investigative file, the majority lawyer asked to go off the record. When the record resumes, Ziegler answers. No explanation of why they went off the record. It was for a bathroom break, probably. Perfectly normal, perfectly above-board, not the least bit shady.
How can Hunter’s lawyer (Abbe David Lowell, a male person) possibly take exception to non-suspicious non-shenanigans like going off the record after a question and picking up the transcript with the witness’ answer and no explanation of what the pause was for? Sure, they’d never get anway with **** like that that at a public hearing, but still! Abbe’s being such a baby!
(Text below is from Ziegler’s transcript, pp 77-78):
BY MINORITY COUNSEL 1:
Q Okay. You’re talking about 2019. You were mentioning the fact that
there was a George Murphy that was writing memos or emails and documenting some of
his conclusions that were on the other side regarding this case.
Could you tell us more about him? What’s his title and who is he and how does
he relate to you in terms of your chain of command?
A So it was actually Matthew Kutz. He was my supervisor at the time and
from the articles that he was sending me, I would say he had more of a liberal view than I
had and it was pretty obvious from the things he would send me and discuss. And that’s
just me making an observation.
So I later found out about these memos that were put in the file regarding the
issues that he saw with the investigation, the fact that we even had it opened. So I only
learned about those after.
And then it came to a point to where he’s sending us so many media articles about
different issues that I had to tell him stop, please. And I had to go around him. And
that’s when I went to my ASAC at the time, George Murphy, who was above him.
MAJORITY COUNSEL 2. Off the record.
MAJORITY COUNSEL 1. Off the record.
[Discussion off the record.]
MAJORITY COUNSEL 1. On the record.
Mr. . So these articles were a lot about — were a lot of articles regarding
Trump and getting a fair investigation and things related to that, Trump’s tweets and stuff
like that. So, that’s what drew me to my conclusion.
When did Abbe become Abby? I must have missed that news!