[btomba_77]

[link=https://twitter.com/canindependent/status/1593257019221213185]https://twitter.com/canin…us/1593257019221213185[/link]

GOP Press conference now…. get ready for all Hunter Biden all the time …

___________
[link=https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/republican-censorship-lawsuit-biden-fbi-hunter-laptop/index.html]Republican ‘censorship’ lawsuit paves the way for congressional investigations of Hunter Biden 

[/link]

A federal judge in Louisiana on Monday [link=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23309721-ruling-in-missouri-v-biden]ordered[/link] an FBI cybersecurity official to be deposed in a lawsuit alleging that the FBI coerced social media companies to block stories about Hunter Bidens laptop ahead of the 2020 election.
 
The FBI deposition is one of several sought by the state Republican officials in a lawsuit accusing Biden officials of effectively enforcing government censorship by pushing social media companies to, among other things, police speech about the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, the efficacy of face masks and health care measures intended to curb the spread of the virus, as well as claims about election integrity and the security of voting by mail.
 
Judge Terry Doughty, a Donald Trump appointee overseeing the lawsuit brought by attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, has ordered eight depositions of government officials, including [link=https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/politics/anthony-fauci-retirement-plans]Dr. Anthony Fauci[/link], director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and other officials involved in administrations public health response.
 
Doughty hasnt ruled on the merits of the two states censorship claims, but has ordered the administration to produce documents identifying government officials and the nature of their communications with social media platforms.

[/QUOTE]
 

[kaldridgewv2211]

but what the tax payer dollars that are going to be wasted?  GOP LOL.
 
If the past couple years has taught me anything it’s that no one needs to comply with congressional oversight.

[btomba_77]

At the GOP press conference this morning reporters started asking questions about Republican support for jan 6 defendants , about his they will handle the debt ceiling

Response was {paraphrase} we think Hunter Biden is the real important thing here keep questions to that

[satyanar]

Quote from dergon

 

Gaetz, MTG, and some of the other Freedom Caucus bomb throwers of the Republican party look to a new congressional session heavily focused on investigations.

Key subject: Hunter Biden (of course), Anthony Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, Merrick Garland, DHS Head Mayorkas, the entire Jan 6. Committee … and I’m sure the list goes on.

Not hearing anything about policy … although the House will still have to fund the government, perhaps pass a debt ceiling (unless Dems get rid of that in the lame duck) and do the other routine stuff that keeps the government open.

__________

Democrats already have a counter-strategy coming.

…

[link=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/16/democratic-strategists-launch-war-room-00065498]https://www.politico.com/…unch-war-room-00065498[/link]

[h2]Investigating the investigators: Dem strategists to launch counterpunch to House GOP[/h2] The newly relaunched Congressional Integrity Project will include rapid response, investigative researchers, pollsters and eventually paid media designed to put Republicans on the defensive.

The newly relaunched Congressional Integrity Project initiative, details of which were shared first with POLITICO, will include rapid response teams, investigative researchers, pollsters and eventually a paid media campaign to put congressional Republicans squarely on the defense, founder Kyle Herrig said in an interview.

Its designed to serve as the partys leading war room to push back on House Republican investigations, Herrig said in an interview. He added that the project would investigate the investigators, expose their political motivations and the monied special interests supporting their work, and hold them accountable for ignoring the urgent priorities of all Americans in order to smear Joe Biden and do the political bidding of Trump and MAGA Republicans.

A team of researchers has already begun scouring public records, press clippings and other documents in a bid to immediately undercut House GOP leaders, from Minority Leader now speakership hopeful Kevin McCarthy to the likely committee chairs expected to manage probes of Biden and his network.

[/QUOTE]

 
Too bad. I was hoping wasted time on frivolous investigations would become another driver of votes. It’s another thing independents stand for, along with abortion rights, gun control and fair elections. I can see why the Dems want to approach it this way though. Unfortunately, it sets us up for another mountains to mole hills comparison. 
 
 

[ruszja]

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi !

Worked like a charm for Trey Gowdy. He really managed to establish himself as a republican leadership figure with that investigation.

[Unknown Member]

Haha trey gowdy

He reminds me of Martin Shorts character

Ed Grimley

[btomba_77]

Quote from fw

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi !

Worked like a charm for Trey Gowdy. He really managed to establish himself as a republican leadership figure with that investigation.

Since the electorate made it clear that they have no desire for hyper-partisan grievance driven crazy …
 
[link=https://www.npr.org/2022/11/17/1137197668/republicans-have-won-the-house-now-theyre-promising-to-investigate-the-bidens]https://www.npr.org/2022/…investigate-the-bidens[/link]
 
[h1][b]Republicans have won the House. Now, they’re promising to investigate the Bidens[/b][/h1] [b]
[/b]
In a press conference on Thursday, Comer accused the Biden family of defrauding the United States, tax evasion, violating several laws and money laundering, among other accusations.
 
“The president’s participation in enriching his family is, in a word, abuse of the highest order,” Comer said.[b] “I want to be clear: This is an investigation of Joe Biden, and that’s where our focus will be next Congress.”[/b]
 
 
Without providing evidence, promising it will come Thursday, Comer said the president was looped in on actions by Hunter that he called “influence peddling” and described it as lobbying foreign governments without registering, as required by law. He told NPR the panel believes “that there’s ample evidence to prove that Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s shady business dealings” and said “we believe he may have been involved financially in some of those business dealings, but at the very least, we believe we need to investigate to see if these shady business deals have compromised this White House.”

[btomba_77]

[h1]A Grown Republican Caucus:  GOP Members Representing Biden Districts[/h1]  
[link=https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-sneak-peek-1860b601-06f7-471c-b449-c8a1e2b00e1b.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiossneakpeek&stream=top]Josh Kraushaar[/link] points out that the number of House Republicans in crossover seats districts carried by President Biden nearly doubled from 2020 to 2022.
 
[link=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/11/21/why-the-gops-biden-probes-could-backfire-00069680?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=00000167-bc5e-d06b-a7e7-be5f064a0000&nlid=630318]Politico[/link]: Were already hearing from a host of moderate House Republicans who won in Biden districts who are dreading the prospect of overly aggressive probes. Its not what they ran on this election cycle and certainly not what they want to be talking about after spending their campaigns focused on the economy.
 

[satyanar]

Yes. They are trying. Decent chance they join the Problem Solvers Caucus if they can get Dems to go in with them 2 by 2.

[btomba_77]

[h1][b]McCarthy Threatens to Impeach Mayorkas[/b][/h1]  
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that GOP lawmakers will consider impeachment next year if he does not step down, [link=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3747161-mccarthy-calls-on-dhs-secretary-mayorkas-to-resign-threatens-impeachment-inquiry/?email=066c0990fa413d52c3842f29a42abb22ffa00eae&emaila=02c3337a6605235631b8cab2e023d54e&emailb=e0d37ab6f97ed06914f0e75a1ebed673001a81f7f84978ff9209f3e23f7ba5d3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=McCarthy%20calls%20on%20DHS%20Secretary%20Mayorkas%20to%20resign%2C%20threatens%20impeachment%20inquiry]The Hill[/link] reports.
 
Said McCarthy: If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate, every order, every action and every failure will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry.
 

[btomba_77]

[b]The House GOPs Investigation Conundrum[/b][/h1]  
 
 
[link=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/republican-house-majority-biden-investigations/672259/]Ron Brownstein[/link]: Two months before taking power, the new House Republican majority has signaled that its investigative agenda will channel the preoccupations of the former president and his die-hard base of supporters. But it has set this course immediately after a midterm election in which voters outside the core conservative states sent an unmistakable signal of their own by repeatedly rejecting Trump-backed candidates in high-profile senate and gubernatorial races. That contrast captures why the GOPs plans for aggressive investigations of President Joe Biden may present as much political risk for the investigators as it does for the targets.
 
House Republicans and their allies are confident that the investigations will weaken Biden in advance of the 2024 presidential election.
 
But [b]the new majoritys focus on airing echo-chamber conservative obsessions risks further stamping the GOP as the party of Trump[/b] precisely as more Republican leaders and donors insist the recent election results demonstrate the need to move beyond him.

 

[satyanar]

Well stated. They will learn or they won’t. Either way it’s good for this voter who wants to see things move to the middle.

[kayla.meyer_144]

Trump & Trumpers/Trumpism aside, Republicans have seldom – if ever – been punished for crazy investigations, even for playing with the debt ceiling threatening American default on our debts. Even after BENGHAZI! investigations & others, Republicans were able to publicly brag the sole purpose of those investigations was to wound Hillary & to brag that the investigations succeeded in weakening her campaign. And the public reaction? Big yawn.  
 
Since the 1990s, Republicans have experienced zero downside for antics like those. Republican voters have cheered them on. There iso no history that makes Republicans hesitate about such threats & actions. Theyve always worked well for them before, why stop now? If the public doesnt care enough for good government

[btomba_77]

Quote from dergon

Just what the American people are clamoring for…
The “investigate the investigators” committee is a thing now …

[link=https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20230109/BILLS-118HResPIH-Fed-Gov-comv2.pdf]https://docs.house.gov/bi…sPIH-Fed-Gov-comv2.pdf[/link]

[b]RESOLUTION

Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.[/b]

It gets better …
 
the subpoena power would lie with the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, expected to be …
 
wait for it …
 
Gym Jordan

[kaldridgewv2211]

lol. Subpoena deez nuts. How have this subpoenas been working. Also wondering when George Clooney is putting out his movie about the Ohio State wrestling.

[satyanar]

If this were the case youd think smart people would come up with a better plan to topple them?

This election showed us the electorate is actually pretty good at figuring out who is dangerous and who supports a moderate approach. Much to learn. Which side is the better student?

[btomba_77]

[h1]Republican House will Investigate January 6 Committee[/h1]  
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who is attempting to become the next House speaker, on Wednesday warned the special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that members of his party planned to launch an inquiry of their own into the panels work next year when Republicans assume control of the chamber, the [link=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/us/politics/mccarthy-jan-6-committee.html]New York Times[/link] reports.
 
In a letter sent to the committees chairman, Mr. McCarthy instructed the panel to preserve its records an action already required under House rules including any recorded transcripts of its more than 1,000 interviews. The missive was the first official indication that newly empowered House Republicans plan not only to end the inquiry at the start of the new Congress, but also to attempt to dismantle and discredit its findings the latest piece of a broader effort the party has undertaken over the past two years to deny, downplay or shift blame for the deadly attack by a pro-Trump mob.
 
Meanwhile, [link=https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/politics/zoe-lofgren-january-6-committee-findings-cnntv/index.html]CNN[/link] reports Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said the panels work will be released in its entirety later this month so Republicans cannot cherry-pick evidence when they take over the majority.
 

[btomba_77]

[h1][b]McCarthy Pledges House Subpoenas for 51 Intel Agents [/b][/h1]  
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy reacted to the Twitter Files, revealing how the tech giant purportedly suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, [link=https://www.foxnews.com/media/kevin-mccarthy-pledges-subpoenas-51-intel-agents-wake-hunter-biden-revelations-twitter-files]Fox News[/link] reports.
 
Said McCarthy: Those 51 intel agents that signed a letter that said the Hunter Biden information was all wrong was Russia collusion many of them have a security clearance.
 
He added: Why did they sign it? Why did they lie to the American public? A Clapper, a Brennan? Why did you use the reputation that America was able to give to you more information, but use it for a political purpose and lie to the American public?
 

[ruszja]

I wish he focussed on getting a balanced budget passed.

[btomba_77]

[h1][b]House Conservatives Threaten GOP Senators[/b][/h1]  
A group of 13 House Republicans released a letter to their Senate GOP counterparts vowing to oppose any legislation next Congress pushed by Republicans who ultimately support the massive government spending package this week, [link=https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/12-20-2022/conservative-new-threat/]Politico[/link] reports.
 
 
With the Senate run by Democrats, its unlikely much marquee GOP senator-led legislation would make it to the House next year anyways, but this means that even bills renaming post offices or similar small-ball efforts could be derailed.
 
 

 
 
Teagan Goddard: “This is why former Speaker John Boehner coined the term ‘legislative terrorists’.”
 

[btomba_77]

[h1]White House Says GOP Has to Restart Oversight Requests[/h1]  
The Biden White House launched its first major broadside in response to incoming House Republicans likely to spearhead aggressive oversight of the administration, [link=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/29/jim-jordan-james-comer-oversight-requests-00075710]Politico[/link] reports.
 
A top lawyer for the president pledged in letters to those members that the administration would operate in good faith with them. But he also said that oversight demands made by congressional Republicans during the last Congress would have to be started over.
 

[satyanar]

Another thing voters dont want. They really havent learned a thing. 

[btomba_77]

All deep state all the time 
[link=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/30/mccarthy-biden-conservatives-investigations-00075847]Conservatives’ latest McCarthy ask: A broad Biden administration investigation .
[/link]
 
[h2]Tentatively called the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, it would look into abuses by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies.[/h2]  

Conservatives say they want to model the panel off the 1970s Church Committee, which conducted a landmark investigation that uncovered significant surveillance abuses among the intelligence community and the IRS, leading to the formation of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But its a high bar thats almost certain to fall short. While the Church Committee was a bipartisan operation, Democrats have frequently criticized the GOPs targeting of the FBI, and their party is highly unlikely to help fuel probes theyve already derided as political sideshows.
 
And Democrats are already gearing up to rebut GOP investigations next year. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who will be on the frontlines as the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, summed up how he views his partys responsibilities as it deals with Republican probes: a truth squad in the sense that we will have to debunk conspiracy theories.
…

Conservatives insist they dont want to step on the toes of Comer and Jordan they just want a central, coordinated hub for investigations next year. McCarthy has been meeting with incoming chairs, including Jordan and Comer, as they plan out their series of probes next year. But supporters of creating a new panel argue that it could help free up Oversight and Judiciary Committee members, in particular, who are going to be busy juggling multiple investigations.

[/QUOTE]
 

[btomba_77]

GOP’s first act …. removing the congressional metal detectors 

[link=https://twitter.com/sarahgroh/status/1610323954673094657]https://twitter.com/sarah…us/1610323954673094657[/link]

[btomba_77]

Just what the American people are clamoring for…
The “investigate the investigators” committee is a thing now …

[link=https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20230109/BILLS-118HResPIH-Fed-Gov-comv2.pdf]https://docs.house.gov/bi…sPIH-Fed-Gov-comv2.pdf[/link]

[b]RESOLUTION

Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.[/b]

[btomba_77]

 
[b]The Far Right won Big from McCarthy[/b]

On Speaker Kevin McCarthys first day on the dais, some key committee appointments made it clear how much the GOP far right won in lasts week battle.
 
Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/house-gop-picks-mark-green-to-chair-homeland-security/]chair the Homeland Security Committee[/link], Donald Trump ally Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/trump-ally-to-lead-powerful-house-tax-committee/]chair the Ways and Means Committee[/link], and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Judiciary Committee chair, will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/jim-jordan-to-chair-new-subcommittee/]head a new Select Subcommittee[/link] on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
 
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who threatened conservatives both on and off the House floor last week, surprised GOP colleagues by [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/mike-rogers-to-step-down-from-plum-house-gop-post/]announcing that he will step down[/link] from the party committee that decides committee assignments.
 

[kaldridgewv2211]

Their rules package sure seemed to fly through all the moderate republicans.

[adrianoal]

Quote from dergon

 
[b]The Far Right won Big from McCarthy[/b]

On Speaker Kevin McCarthys first day on the dais, some key committee appointments made it clear how much the GOP far right won in lasts week battle.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/house-gop-picks-mark-green-to-chair-homeland-security/]chair the Homeland Security Committee[/link], Donald Trump ally Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/trump-ally-to-lead-powerful-house-tax-committee/]chair the Ways and Means Committee[/link], and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Judiciary Committee chair, will [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/jim-jordan-to-chair-new-subcommittee/]head a new Select Subcommittee[/link] on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who threatened conservatives both on and off the House floor last week, surprised GOP colleagues by [link=https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/09/mike-rogers-to-step-down-from-plum-house-gop-post/]announcing that he will step down[/link] from the party committee that decides committee assignments.

 
remember not that long ago, when many people said the Senate was fatally flawed b/c it was antidemocratic (2 Senators per state, regardless of population) and the House was the better representation of Democracy etc, where real power should be, etc? Guessing won’t hear a lot of that in MSM now. But perhaps on Fox News.

[kayla.meyer_144]

Actually, I dont remember that as a serious question or discussion.
 
Can you provide a link supporting that please.

[btomba_77]

 [link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/01/09/house-covid-origin-investigation/]Washington Post

[/link]
[b]House GOP to embark on sweeping probe of covid origin, U.S. response[/b][/h1]

House Republicans on Monday commissioned a special investigative panel focused on the coronavirus pandemic, hoping to leverage their new, powerful majority to press scientists and federal officials about the origin of the public health crisis and the governments response to it.
 
Party lawmakers officially chartered the new effort in a sprawling package setting the chambers rules for the next two years, awarding it a sweeping mandate from looking into vaccine development, school closures and other mitigation measures to examining the roughly $5 trillion in emergency federal aid approved since early 2020.
 
 
…
Republican lawmakers also have clashed with scientists and doctors on a wide array of policies meant to arrest the spread of the virus opposing vaccine mandates, blasting in-person capacity limits and rejecting new federal funding for tests, treatments and other tools.
[/QUOTE]
 

[btomba_77]

[h3][b][link=https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/10/house-republicans-justice-department-00077108]Mutually assured obstruction: House GOP aims ‘weaponization’ panel at DOJ[/link][/b][/h3]  
Republican lawmakers are empowering themselves to look at any agency or program that they view as suspect. But DOJ is bound to safeguard its own investigations.

 
[b]Veterans of some of Congress recent major probes, and the department itself, predict that theyll be told to pound sand.[/b]
…

its an opening salvo that promises to escalate quickly. The Justice Department is certain to fiercely protect its most sensitive investigative files and prosecutors are simply not going to hand over information on open criminal probes, legal experts say. The resulting conflict promises to erode the already strained relationship between DOJ and congressional Republicans.
 
This will be a separation of powers hornets nest, said former House General Counsel Stan Brand, who represented witnesses before the Jan. 6 select committee, including Dan Scavino, a top adviser to former President Donald Trump. In order to insulate the process from taint, [DOJ] will have to draw clearer lines in the sand over what they will provide.

[/QUOTE]