OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A leading Republican lawmaker turned heads on Sunday when he took to social media to claim that President Joe Biden has “lawyered up” as House GOP investigators claim to be stockpiling more evidence that he may have taken a bribe as vice president.
“Joe Biden has officially lawyered up. This is what a real scandal looks like,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), tweeted.
He didn’t elaborate, but his tweet came on the heels of the latest revelations from a House committee that released the text of a WhatsApp message from Hunter to a Chinese businessman obtained from an IRS whistleblower.
The message appeared to indicate that Joe Biden was in the same room as Hunter when he sent a message threatening the Chinese business partner, further implicating a potential ‘pay-for-play’ influence-peddling scheme.
During a press conference addressing the allegations of the Biden administration interfering with U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s investigation into the president’s son on Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) made the revelation about the IRS whistleblowers.
One of the IRS agents told Smith’s committee that in August 2020, agency investigators found messages from an iCloud search warrant, but prosecutors “denied investigators’ requests to develop a strategy to look into the messages and denied investigators’ suggestion to obtain location information to see where the texts were sent from.”
Joe Biden has officially lawyered up.
This is what a real scandal looks like.
— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) June 25, 2023
One message investigators managed to obtain was sent via the WhatsApp platform from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao on July 30, 2017.
Smith’s committee provided a transcript of the exchange where it appears Hunter Biden name-dropped his father, Joe Biden:
I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.
Also, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says Joe Biden is currently under investigation for bribery by the FBI.
During an interview on “Sunday Night in America,” Comer and host Trey Gowdy discussed the ongoing House Republican investigation into Biden and his family’s alleged business dealings.
Comer spoke about an unclassified FD-1023 FBI form from a “highly credible” source alleging that then-VP Biden was involved in a bribery pay-to-play scheme. Comer said FBI Director Christopher Wray “finally” admitted to the existence of that form after Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley said they read the document.
“So, what I believe has happened, Trey, is that according to Bill Barr, then-attorney general, they got the form 1023, and because it was from one of the FBI’s most credible, highest-paid, most trusted, most effective informants, they took it seriously but they did not look into it. They just pass it along to the U.S. Attorney in Delaware,” Comer said.
“The form 1023 pertaining to Joe Biden and bribery was passed along, according to the FBI and Bill Barr, to the U.S. Attorney in Delaware who is investigating Joe Biden,” he added.
“It also may be turned over to the special counsel. Remember, there is a special counsel investigating Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents. He just has not been in the news a lot. So, according to the FBI and according to Bill Barr, Joe Biden is currently under investigation for bribery. And this gets lost in translation because the media is so focused on Donald Trump,” he added.
