‘Gullible’: Top Democrat hits GOP over CIA allegations, Joe Biden impeachment inquiry
WASHINGTON – Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is going after House Republicans' impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and broader investigation into the president’s family, alleging his GOP colleagues are "gullible" after raising accusations about the CIA.
Raskin in a letter first shared with USA TODAY asked Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., to allow Democrats to review allegations from a new whistleblower. The person claims the CIA obstructed the government’s investigation into the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Democrats must “assess whether you are ... making our Committee a party to efforts by malign foreign interests to influence American elections,” Raskin wrote, referencing Alexander Smirnov, an indicted FBI source.
Smirnov was charged in February for lying to federal investigators about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s involvement with a Ukrainian energy company. Up until his arrest, Republicans regularly promoted his allegations. Smirnov claimed he had “extensive foreign ties” with Russian intelligence agencies, according to prosecutors.
Raskin in his letter on Friday said Comer’s “accusations against the CIA mirror in striking ways your earlier impassioned claims,” about Smirnov’s allegations.
Comer, along with House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to CIA director William Burns in March saying a whistleblower informed them the CIA blocked the Justice Department and IRS from interviewing Kevin Morris, Hunter Biden’s financial benefactor and one of his lawyers.
But Raskin noted that an IRS agent testified to investigators he was allowed to interview Morris. Morris also testified himself in January that he cooperated with law enforcement.
Comer’s letter, Raskin said, “looks like yet another episode in the Committee’s gullible campaign to amplify the vacuous claims of shadowy Trump World figures and foreign disinformation and propaganda operators.”
Former President Donald Trump's allies have testified in the impeachment investigation against Biden, and the former president himself has escalated calls for Congress to impeach Joe Biden.
A spokesperson for the GOP-led House Oversight Committee told USA TODAY in a statement Raskin's letter "could have been one sentence" and that "the bottom line is that the whistleblower doesn't feel comfortable talking to the Democrats because the Democrats continue to attack whistleblowers."
Raskin added that Gal Luft, another person who claimed to have evidence the president and his family engaged in corruption and was touted by GOP officials, was indicted last year for arms trafficking and acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China.
House Republicans have pursued an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over allegations he personally benefited from his family’s foreign business dealings. The probe, however, has yet to turn up evidence directly implicating the president, and GOP lawmakers have become increasingly cold about impeaching Joe Biden.
In recent weeks, Comer has signaled other off-ramps for the impeachment investigation into the president, suggesting his committee could instead make criminal referrals to the Justice Department. If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, his administration could potentially go after those accusations, though the path opens up a host of procedural and legal questions.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Gullible’: Top Democrat hits GOP on CIA allegations and Hunter Biden
