Republicans name witnesses for first impeachment hearing

Republicans will kick off their first impeachment hearing Thursday with a trio of witnesses, asking a forensic accountant, former Justice Department tax attorney, and conservative legal scholar Jonathan Turley to weigh in on the business dealings of the Biden family.

Led by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, the hearing is titled “The Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” and comes after Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters last week the hearing is “not expected to cover new ground.”

Comer has alleged President Biden accepted a bribe as part of his dealings in Ukraine as vice president, but the GOP has yet to find a smoking gun to back those claims.

Biden has denied any wrongdoing.

Republicans have claimed that then-Vice President Biden accepted a $5 million bribe in exchange for helping oust Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin over an investigation into Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company where Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was a board member.

That claim is based on an unverified tip to the FBI that the bureau was unable to corroborate, with a confidential source relaying a conversation with Burisma’s owner saying he paid both Bidens.

The selection of two of the three witnesses suggests the panel plans to go deep in reviewing Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

Bruce Dubinsky is a longtime forensic accountant who has previously weighed in on Hunter Biden’s business finances for Fox News. His LinkedIn account notes he is also a media contributor and he has weighed in on other major tax cases, including reporting around former President Trump’s taxes.

Eileen O’Connor is a former assistant attorney general of the tax division at the Department of Justice who served in the George W. Bush administration and was also a member of the Trump transition team. She penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “You’d Go to Prison for What Hunter Biden Did.” Her LinkedIn shows her reposting videos critiquing responses to climate change, with another post from her warning the Biden administration is “enabling the invasion” at the border.

Turley is a law professor at George Washington University and a regular conservative commentator. Republicans also called him as a witness at the first meeting of the subcommittee formed by the GOP to review purported “weaponization” of the federal government.   

“This week, the House Oversight Committee will present evidence uncovered to date and hear from legal and financial experts about crimes the Bidens may have committed as they brought in millions at the expense of U.S. interests,” Comer said in a statement Monday. 

The White House on Monday sought to draw attention to the pending government shutdown, including infighting among House Republicans over how to fund the government.

“While Comer and Jordan are focused on baseless political stunts to get themselves attention on Fox News, 300,000 of people at risk in Kentucky and Ohio—including vulnerable infants—could lose access to the food assistance they need because of extreme House Republicans’ shutdown plan,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement, accusing Republicans of “posing for the cameras to attack President Biden with debunked smears – it’s D.C. politics at its worst.”