Family while joe biden was Vice President and i will continue reading from Tony Bobulinskis report. Which says and i quote, bobulinski, hunter biden and james biden did not receive come pentation because joe biden was Vice President during the time period. There by cefs. Hunter biden and james biden both wanted to be compensated for assistance provided to Cefc Ventures and believed cefc through the use of the biden family name to advance Business Dealings. The bidens were paid over 1 million by Ccf Affiliated Chinese Company shortly after joe biden left off as Vice President. Now we know why, it was back pay. I will show you another image, a text message between hunter biden and gong ngueyen dang. He would like to say hello to the chairman, goes on, jims brother wants to say hello. His uncles brother, hmm, i wonder who that could be. Hunter biden puts brother in all caps, since im not always dealing with geniuses, ill spell it out. The brother of hunter, hunters uncle jim is joe biden. Why was hunter so secretive about his father . I will tell you why, because joe biden didnt want the American People to know he and his family were getting paid millions of dollars to a company closely tied to the Chinese Communist party. Cefc knew paying biden family was bad, so they covered it up. It would be a bad look, he tried to pull a genius move with my uncles brother bull. He took bribes from burisma. Betraying your company is treason. I ask to enter into the record, text message between hunter biden. And with bobulinski showing connection to cefc. Without objection, so ordered. Mr. Turley, do people who are conducting legitimate business usually go through effort to keep foreign entanglements hidden . The issue with Influence Pedalling is that it can in some circumstances be legal, but not something that is made public. The public does not buy into the idea that you can sell your family brand if it is Influence Pedalling. So what happens with Influence Pedalling, you have commission of crimes that conceal it and to take steps so it is not public, that may include, but not necessarily the reason in this case, may include failure to pay taxes, failure to register as a Foreign Agent. Part of an inquiry is to see linkage between those acts and linkage to the president. Can i briefly respond to the earlier attack . I dont want to take your time . Im sorry, the lady is over time, we will work with you on that because i do think you need to respond to that ridiculous statement. Chair recognizes mr. Khanna for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Turley, you testified or in your Written Statement about Best Practices for the house. You say it is not legally required for the house to vote to have an impeachment inquire, but Best Practice. Can you explain why you think it is Best Practice for the house to have that vote . Certainly, i think what the courts have said, it is not required, as noted, not a condition for initiation of inquiry. I think it is a good practice, whether it occurs after the investigation, still vote of the entire house. It brings solemnity and weight of the decision, it is Best Practice i suggest in my testimony. What would it mean if votes were not there, if they had a vote and 10 or 20 voted for it, you are student of constitutional history, what would that say . Why important in your view to have Majority Support for Something Like this . I think the public expects members to take this process seriously, part of that is go on the record whether you believeings there is ground for inquiry. In terms of Best Practices, that gives, i think weight of the house to the efforts, that is reason i criticized the move of Speaker Pelosi. It would give you pause if there was a vote which said that the house didnt think there should be an inquiry, you would give that weight as a constitutional scholar . If the house as body said there should not be inquiry, clearly that has on merit of the inquiry that has some weight. It would be your recommendation to Speaker Mccarthy today to bring up that vote, correct, for House Inquiry . I always said i thought it was Best Practice. Your recommendation to him today, hes listening, his staff are, bring that vote to the house floor . I always think it is a good idea. It is your testimony if that vote failed that should have real consideration in whether we go forward with this, lets put members on, my view, they dont have the votes, i think it will be a lopsided vote against it and why they are not bringing it to the floor. I cant speak to that. Let me ask you this, you said i do not believe the Current Evidence support articles of impeachment and i want to be careful, you said you think it supports inquiry, not article of impeachment itself, be precise in what you said. Can you explain to the committee and the country, why you believe the Current Evidence does not support the articles of impeachment today . At the moment, these are allegations and there is some credible evidence there that is the basis of the allegations. I understand that, i am not questioning that. Today if you were going to vote, you would vote no; correct . On this evidence. My question, if someone said why are you voting not to impeach mr. Biden based on this evidence, where do you think the evidence is lacking . Where does it not rise to the level you think it needs to be . What are places you think it is missing . I said the key the committee has to drill down on is whether they can establish a linkage with the Influence Pedalling, a form of corruption and whether the president participated and encouraged it, we dont know and dont know if this was an illusion or not. You can find answers to that. Back end of financial transactions, i have read is where the committee is going, may shed light on that. Without that type of nexus, no, i dont. It is your testimony that nexus has not been established, correct . I think that is purpose of the inquiry, correct. Have you read ken bucks op ed where he was a republican, why i think it would be a lopsided vote against an inquiry saying evidence doesnt exist . I did. I respect members of both parties that can stand alone. He has his reasons for that. I personally think that the threshold for an inquiry has been surpassed, that you have a duty to inquire as to these allegations. That is not presusupposing what you are going to find. It is your formal recommendation to have a vote on the inquiry and it is also your testimony today that today you would vote no on impeachment on the Current Evidence . My sense when Speaker Pelosi took the step, i gave same advice, it is Best Practice to go to the floor. Gentleman time expired, mcclain from michigan for five minutes. I want to make two comments, first to professor gerhardt, i love the analogy about the Speeding Ticket with hunter biden. Let me see if you agree with this analogy. If a criminal pulls a trigger for a murder, hes guilty, right . And we can prove it. Dont you also agree if somebody ordered that hit, we would charge him, too . That is interesting that you dont use that analogy. That is number one. Number two i have a reason not using it. It doesnt fit the narrative. I love the fact that trump lives rent free in the democrats heads everyday, that is a beautiful thing, even though we are here talking about the Impeachment Inquiry of joe biden. With that said, i want to talk about the evidence of joe bidens role in his familys Business Schemes in romania. While joe biden was president , he was directly involved in the United States policy in anticorruption efforts in romania. Thats a fact. May 21, 2014, the then Vice President biden delivered anticorruption speech in romania, right . On september 28, 2015, the president visited with the then Vice President biden, the romania president visited withen this Vice President biden at the white house to discuss anticorruption efforts, right . Got a theme of anticorruption, right . Gabriel popovic, oligarch in the subject of a criminal probe and prosecution for corruption and bribery in romania. This committee has reviewed transactions showing the biden family received money from a Foreign Company run by this russian oligarch, corrupt gabriel popovic. After the romania president visited Vice President biden, popovic begins paying hunter biden and his associates, rob walker, through his company. The money from Bladen Enterprises deposited to Robinson Walker llc, this llc is directly operated by Hunter Bidens known business partner, rob walker. These are all facts weve found through the investigation. In november, 2015, and again in march 2016, hunter biden, who is not registered as a Foreign Agent under fara, meets with the u. S. Ambassador to romania. Red flag. Then coincidentally, over 1 million flows to the bidens. Im not much for coincidences and i dont think the American People are either. Lets run through the numbers together. Between November 2015 and may 2017, Bladen Enterprises deposited over 3 million to Robin Doson Walker Llc Business Account and biden account received 1 million from Robinson Walker after deposits were made. 16 of the 17 payments occurred while joe biden was Vice President. Now i think most americans would find it suspicious that these payments ended shortly after joe biden left office. Another coincidence. Mr. Chairman i ask unanimous consent to enter the may 10, 2023 Second Bank Record Memorandum showing this in romania. It is ordered. I see three problems here. One, while joe biden is touting anticorruption efforts in romania, hunter biden is employed by a corrupt romanian oligarch. Interesting. In direct violation of fara, hunter biden meets with u. S. Ambassador to romania while being paid by popovic, what was Hunter Biden Selling to the romanian oligarchs for millions of dollars . Id like to see a contract of that. Professor turley, i know im almost out of time, you said hunter biden could be charged under Foreign Agent registration act. Can you explain why . Time expired, please answer the question, mr. Turley. Much conduct ascribed in disclosures does seem to fit what we saw with the charges of Paul Manafortin terms of being a Foreign Agent, some does appear to be this type of lobbying on the part of hunter biden. The failure to register as an agent helped conceal that, that is not necessarily motivation behind it. The question is, should he have registered as a Foreign Agent during the course of this conduct . It seems to me looking at the Paul Manafort indictment, there is overlap in terms of type of action taken. May i enter ms. Mcclain chart into the record . Without objection, it is ordered. Chair recognizes maryland. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I did not plan to, but like to followup on the gentle womans comment and assertion about romania and hunter biden and the fact that he worked for romaniian executive facing corruption charges. Harris welcome you to outnumbered this hour, im harris faulkner, my cohost Kayleigh Mcenany is along for the live coverage of this hearing in the House Oversight committee. They are taking a look at Impeachment Inquiry issues from 47 members of that committee. And whether or not there can be a vote to go forward. This is the first hearing, the first step, Impeachment Inquiry, both sides of the political aisle get to call or ask questions of the five guests before them and then also there is what they call minority, meaning the party not in control of this committee, they get to call a witness, too, and mr. Gerhardt is there for democrats today. Also with us, Leslie Marshall and Cheryl Casone and former chairman of oversight, jason chaffetz. Welcome to everybody, well take a moment to digest little of what were seeing. You sat up jason, when they started to pick apart some items in evidence, what was catching your ear . Democrats longterm accusation is there is no evidence, no tie to joe biden. But from jim jordan and nancy mace, We Saw Litany of Byron Donalds did great job of laying out actual evidence and text messages, this mystifies me, 20 shell companies, only product they are selling is joe biden, that is their main asset, what weve heard testimony about, this is voicemails, text messages, manifests, all kind of information, particularly flow of money and as Professor Turley and others said, you have to tie that to actions by joe biden as Vice President , of which there are some and those are the allegations. Harris florida representative Byron Donalds, brought up hunter biden and naomi biden. It is important on day trying to show that you said flow of money into and out of that family and where it was going and naomi says to hunter, they are relatives, unlike pop, dad, you know, the former Vice President , i wont make you give me half of your money. And so Byron Donalds is showing as money was coming in through Business Dealings and this is alleged, they say they have evidence to prove this. Money flowing to the biden family, apparently pop, as he is sometimes called, poppop, was getting half of everybodys take. Kayleigh pop, the big guy . No democrat has described to me who the big guy is, apparently imaginary ghost, though it is not joe biden, they tell us, if you can believe that, guys. What is interesting, unearthed messages, june 6, 2017, hunter biden text, willing to sign over my familys brand and refers to that as the keys my family only asset, apparently his brand. It gets worse and worse on the backs of finding out that joe bidens home address in delaware was listed on wire payments, why is hunter biden listing joe bidens address . This is on the back of menendez. Menendez, there is hunter biden information in there, menendez wanted joe biden to speak at a political event, did he reach out to the Vice President s office . No, alleged in the indictment, he reached out to eric schwerin. Mounts of evident here and Jonathan Turley has done a fantastic job being objective and he says you start with crimes looking at impeachment and go down from there and you can end at abuse of power and can be false statements, conscripting white house staff to do your bidding on that. There is a whole range of issues here and praise Jonathan Turley for really being objective and fair in all of this. Harris moments ago, we broke away to set the scene for you here on this hour of outnumbered, they took a bit of a break and we dont know how long this will last, well get details from my team to see how long this vote is expected to take. Of course, members are doing their job. I know the left Accused Republicans of who are at helm in having majority and going through with Impeachment Inquiry accused them are not paying attention to the shutdown on the hill. If people can vote, they are still doing their job. It is ineffective to make that argument, they are getting up and going and voting. Leslie, what do you make of why didnt you vote on Impeachment Inquiry . Jonathan turley said i do and i did when nancy pelosi on that second impeachment of former President Trump. I thought they should have taken a vote on that. It talks to solemnity of the moment. It has been f fairhanded, the left want to paint the right as people who dont have vote to do anything. Deja vu, right said the same. Years ago, i didnt think we should have impeached donald trump, i said that at the time, i did not think it was a good idea. The reason is our constitution, a wonderful document. The way i understand it, richard nixon, had he not resigned, should have been impeached, bill clinton should have been impeached. The way i read the constitution and people that Analyze Constitution Believe Our Founding Forefathers was abuse of power while that person is president of the United States. In 72 hours, if the Government Shutdowns this will hurt republicans, voters left or right, will not remember this, they will remember kayleigh not according to the abc poll. Your party is trying to posture that. I dont believe polls that benefit my paor dont benefit m party. That is on the record saying. 49yearold man. Look at money going to biden family, overwhelming majority went to hunter biden and i hear a lot of harris which is why naomi didnt want to give her half, apparently. I hear a lot of evidence that could impeach hunter biden, the problem is hunter biden harris that is not the goal and you know it, the goal is not to go after somebody not in office. Hunter biden, im hoping, will have to explain what he was doing without being registered as a Foreign Agent for this country and making Business Deals and going around the world with that Energy Company and burisma and interesting timing, that is locateds in ukraine. You talk about abuse of power as president and the gop laid out what they want to answer in this Impeachment Inquiry. Three of the four key items are, did joe biden as Vice President and or president. So they are looking for things he also has done current. The fourth item is only as president. Did joe biden abuse power as president to impede, obstruct or hinder investigations, including congressional investigation 188 or prosecution of hunter biden. They are looking to see if there is a trail with all of this money that would lead to the vulnerability to bribery or other things with a president through his son and his sons illegal action. They are looking to see, was that current, not just as Vice President , but kucurrently. It addresses your issue and possibly meets threshold to get to Impeachment Inquiry. You are talking about tax charges and gun charges. Tax charges, those are serious charges and what he was accused of most americans would have been put in jail or fined thousands, Tens Of Thousands of dollars by the irs. He got that deal. I want to go back to Jonathan Turley, i felt, i have his Written Statement here. Read this. Jonathan turley did his research, came today prepared and he is getting attacked because they are trying to discredit him. Read his statement, he makes it clear and i hope he gets a chance to defend himself, he says the believe the Impeachment Inquiry is warranted, i dont he said, here is the thing, the illusion of access is what he says needs to be investigated and goes back to bank records. Nancy mace joined me on fox business and shes seen bank records and told me there is over 50 million in payments, but we dont have records, what Jonathan Turley is saying, Perfect Point here, this is why you hold the inquiry, this is why you look for the evidence to find out if there was something improper done with these shell companies, llcs, give me a break. Harris you said that is where we should look, weeks ago you said if these businesses are really just holding factors for moving money around. Just one quick followup with you, cheryl. I am curious to know 50 million, when do we or do we even need to see all that . Can republicans simply layout their case and vote on impeachment in full house and move forward . Or do you think it is necessary for American People to see every single document . Cheryl according to the polls, half of america does believe this needs to be investigated harris that we need to see it . Cheryl i would like to see it, yeah, i would like to see it. Rubber meet the road and bank record. It is not required. Harris not required and i wonder where we are politically, people want their issues to be worked on and if it takes forever to show every piece of evidence or if you can make your case based on that and do what you need to do and have things ajudindicated are we going to hold people hostage for that or do we need to . Kayleigh one thing Jonathan Turley said that is important, when we talk about bank records, i agree, that is where the rubber meets the road, the idea millions going to your family is not a benefit is fallacious is what Jonathan Turley said and biden may have benefited, his family, his current daughter, certainly did. Harris when you mention 50 million, i want to know what they did to get that money, no one just gives 50 million dollars. Cheryl multiple countries, romania, ukraine, china. Harris were going back to the hearing now, we didnt miss much, they had to leave to take a vote, timing of quick conversation worked out, but now going back. This is the house Impeachment Inquiry hearing led by the House Oversight Committee Chairman james comer. I want to thank the distinguished gentleman for his passionate and lucid comments. You introduced a motion to subpoena Rudy Giuliani. And parnas wrote a long letter saying this is based on tissue of fraud. He went all over the world with Rudy Giuliani looking to find is he alleges are you asking me to yield . Happy to yield for a second. What is your question, mr. Chairman . What fraud are you ive introduced in the record the letter that les parnas called upon you to call off this goose chase. Because all this is based on the burisma conspiracy. The china money . Time expired, someone can yield, now dr. Fox from North Carolina for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is not a game. This is very Serious Business and i think at the end, it will be proven to the American People that this is Serious Business and we need to get on with it and we need to have the other side to stop playing games. Ms. Oconnor, in a column in wall street journal, you stated typical timidity of tax lawyers in recommending prosecution is Common Knowledge in tax enforcement community, can you explain why this timidity comes from . I dont know the source of it, thank you for the question. It is Common Knowledge and the tax enforcement community. Tax division is required to authorize criminal tax charges that are going to be brought. In order to inform itself, the Special Agent report is provided to the tax division before it gets to the tax division, irs, Criminal Tax Attorneys review it. They are im sorry, having trouble answering this. Let me give you more guidance. I actually can. Irs Criminal Lawyers provided advisory review in Special Agent report, is that correct . Right, they are advisory only and the irs as any prosecutor is, is determined to have High Conviction rate, they want to be careful if they bring a case, they will win it. All right, can you describe typical Special Agent report and the Special Agent Report Specific to Hunter Bidens case . Certainly. The whistleblowers testified that nearly 1000 pages provided in the Special Agent report consisted not only of discussion of what they had discovered, but also every bit of evidence that they found that supported each element of each crime for each year for which they were recommending charges. Let me followup again please. More than a year after Doj Tax Division received this report, the division created 99page memorandum for recommended charges, is that correct . I might be long how long it took, i have seen other information suggesting shorter period of time. But they did do that . I understand the tax division did produce 99page memo authorizing charges Special Agent recommended. Thank you, you said doj tax revision recommended six felony and five misdemeanors . Is that correct . That is correct. Hunter biden was only initially charged with two counts of willful failure to fay federal income taxes as part of the plea deal, is that correct . Right, for just two years. And these are misdemeanors . Right. Okay. But the maximum penalty for these charges is a fine of 25,000 as well as up to one year in federal prison, is that correct . Or both. Or both. Yet hunter biden owed more than 100,000 in both 2017 and 2018; correct . That is what the criminal information alleged, i think that is ballpark figure. Being00. Based on the answers you just provided, it is extremely difficult to believe an individual who is not the son of the sitting u. S. President would be treated this way. Were told the department of justice treats all citizens equally under the law. But based on the evidence this committee presented, that is not what happened in delaware. Based on your experience, would you agree that is not what happened in delaware . Exactly. It was particularly galling because in the next state in new jersey a mechanic was sentenced to two years for not having paid 100,000 in taxes. In this case there was not equal justice under the law being proposed . Absolutely not. It was unequal justice, that is not what this country stands for. We want everybody being treated the same under the law and my colleagues should feel the same way. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Yield back, recognize consent to enter letter from lev harness mr. Raskin continues to refer to. It is actually pressure lease from the u. S. Attorney office in Southern District of new york, it is lev harness sentenced to 20 months for campaign finance, wire fraud and false statement offenses. He worked with Rudy Giuliani. So ordered. Court recognize ms. Alexandria ocasiocortez for five minutes. This matter echoed by witnesses today, any serious Impeachment Investigation or inquiry relies on firsthand sworn testimony of witnesses to high crimes or misdemeanors. Today republican majority called in three witnesses to advance their case. Mr. Turley, Simple Question for you. In your testimony today, are you presenting any firsthand witness account of crimes committed by the president of the United States . No, im not. You are not. Ms. Oconnor, Second Republican Witness here today, have you in your testimony presented any firsthand witness account of crime presented by the president of the United States . I have not. Mr. Dubinsky, have you presented any firsthand witness account of crimes presented by the president of the United States . I have not. President gerhardt, given you are minority witness, i assume the same, correct . Correct. Thank you, to clarify two individuals presented today who have firsthand account surrounding progeny of allegations being blocked from testifying by republican majority and i want to explain why this is important. Members of congress, all of us in this hearing, are not under oath. We are presently covered by the speech and debate clause, correct, mr. Gerhardt . Correct. Covers all statements by member of congress whether factual or not, there are only four people in this room presently under oath in their testimony and those are four witnesses here today, correct . That is correct. The direct testimony of the four individual witnesses here today are the bona fide words this committee must use in order to proceed or substantiate an investigation and i want to emphasize why that is important. The gentleman from florida presented on the screen something that looked, appeared to be a screen shot of a Tex Miscellaneousage containing an explosive allegation. That screen shot of what appeared to be a text message was a fabricated image. It was fabricated image, i dont know where it came from, i dont know if it was staff of the committee, it was not the actual direct screen shot from that phone. In fact, i would like to submit to the committee the actual full context from the ziegler Affidavit Exhibit 402 of the full text of that exchange. Do i have permission from the chair . Importantly, what was brought out from that fabricated image excluded critical context that changed the underlying meaning and allegation that was presented up on that screen by this committee and by members of this committee. Now they are well within their right to do that. They are covered by the speech and debate clause. This was not submit by material or fact witness under oath, that was not submitted. The Impeachment Inquiry, any Impeachment Inquiry regardless of party is extremely serious matter. Professor gerhardt in Impeachment Inquiry under into president clinton, were there key fact witnesses presented during precedeings . There were not in the house. In the senate, any . There were. There were in the senate. Now in the Impeachment Investigation with respect to President Trump, were there key Material Fact witnesses in the house . Yes, maam. There were, any key Material Fact witnesses here today . No, maam. None . We are wasting our time. We talk about threshold of Impeachment Inquiry, was there a House Floor Vote that had majority of members of congress that opened Impeachment Inquiry into president clinton . There was. There was . Was there full House Floor Vote opening Impeachment Inquiry into President Trump . In 2019. Is there one here for this one . Not for this one. There is not one here for this one. This is an embarrassment. An embarrassment to the time and people of this country. And i would ask that the chair and i would ask that this committee elevate to the promise of our duties here and comport ourselves with consistency and practice that is required of our seats and our duty and our oath to our responsibilities here and with that, i yield back. Chair recognizes mr. Gofen from wisconsin for five minutes. Im concerned about the seriousness of these allegations and what bothers me a little, im beginning to think americans are beginning to think this behavior by the biden family is normal. Im afraid they are going to say President Biden is a politician and look at news with regard to Senator Menendez last couple weeks and say this is how it works. I dont think it is the way it works. I think this is corruption that appears to be, all sorts of smoke. Maybe not fire, all sorts of smoke, almost historic low for our country and deserves a strong response from this body. Look at Senator Menendez lady indictment, no tolerance for putting yourself before your constituents unless it seems your last name is biden. I applaud democratic colleagues who asked Senator Menendez to resign, we knows how that ends, no political risk. Here were talking about the presidency. If the response is well hunter biden wasnt elected politician, what was Hunter Biden Selling . We cant become numb to the facts. The allegations are extraordinary, im not aware of these Type Allegations with sitting president accused of bribery and taking payments directly or through his family. These are not empty allegations. We continue to have evidence, look at what has come in the past couple days. Is President Biden compromised . It is relevant because of interaction between our country and ukraine, interaction between our country and china, doesnt look good and facts demand we continue to investigate. Mr. Turley, i want you to really discuss how historic this really is. What do you think is the most concerning piece of evidence that you heard of today . I think the most concerning obviously, you have to start with the Bribery Allegation that was subject of the fd1023. I say in the testimony that you have to only take that so far because you have a lot of information about a secondhand account. When you put it into the context of this labyrinth of Companies Used to transfer money and statements of hunter biden, that makes this a credible inquiry and the question is, did the president know . Did he encourage this type of corruption . The key here once again, what i stressed in the testimony, you have to begin with recognition that what hunter biden and his associates were doing was corrupt. That is what Influence Pedalling is, form of corruption that our country globally has combatted. Now the only question is for an inquiry is whether that body of corruption, which is it, also encompassed actions or knowledge of the president of the United States. The only way you will be able to get that information is to follow this evidence. And what i suggest is you do so without any prejudice, you do so without any asumpions. In fact, i hope the president will be able to show there is no such nexus, but you wont get those answers until you ask these questions. Were really obligated to have this inquiry, i believe it is your duty to determine if the president is involved in what is a known form corruption and that is what i believe has been described, many people have accepted this is Influence Pedalling in rawest form. Okay, could you elaborate for us, impact bribery of a public official can have on execution of their duties . How about if it was the president . Can you explain why the American Public ought to care about this . Alexander hamilton talked about violation of public trust and that is really what this ultimately goes to. Im hoping there is not much disagreement that Public Corruption falls within an Impeachable Offense, if it does not, it makes mockery of what the framers were talking about. During the clinton impeachment, michael and i testified and there was a lot of, i think goodfaith discussion between us and other experts as to Executive Function Theory and what that, what constitutes Impeachable Offense. I would hope it would be agreed if a nexus was established for the president that he participated in corruption of Influence Pedalling, it would be potential Impeachable Offense or the nexus we have millions of dollars flowing to the biden family, thats been proven overwhelmingly. Are you aware of any precedent in this country, where there has been any case of bribery and corruption of a public official or of a president of this magnitude . Any historical precedent in this country time expired, please answer the question. Certainly, this has assumption as Ranking Member contested the degree to which the all of this money went to the biden Family Members, that has to be as Ranking Member said, has to be established. No, in terms of figures, ive been a critic of Influence Pedalling by democrats and republicans for three decades, been writing about this for a long time. Influence pedalling is a favorite in washington, d. C. And this city is awash with it. Have i seen anything of this size and complexity . No, as an observer . No. We need to know the scope of this and whether all of these financial transfers link the president in any regard and i will not assume that it does. Chair recognizes mr. Unanimous consent moment to introduce october 2020 article in politico where the source of the fd1023 that mr. Turley just referenced stated neither he nor anyone else from burisma ever had any contact with Vice President biden or people working for him during Hunter Bidens engagement. Without object ordered. Chair recognizes ms. Brown from ohio for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We sit here just two days from a complete Government Shutdown, House Republicans want to distract the American Public from Funding Failure with a baseless Impeachment Inquiry lacking facts and foundation. This preventable shutdown threatens livelihood of millions of federal workers, Small Business owners, seniors and veterans, all of whom live in the districts of every member on this committee. My home state of ohio nearly 60,000 workers will be furloughed or forced to work without pay. I cannot overstate the impact republican shutdown will have on mothers and babies receiving wic. In ohio, 180,000 women, children and infants whose benefits will be at risk. In case that statistic is not sinking in, new mother is trying to buy formula only to discover she has no wic benefits to access, she cannot pay. If Speaker Mccarthy and our republican colleagues continue to value their egos over the well being of american families, stories like this will become a terrifying reality for millions. Yet, House Republicans continue to prioritize Political Warfare over peoples welfare. The speaker seems committed to promoting political gain and protecting peoples benefits over protecting peoples benefits, americans and our economy are being held hostage to the demands of the most extreme members of his party. It is painfully clear that Speaker Mccarthy has once again handed control of the peoples house to maga extremists. Rather than work with democrats to get us out of the mess they created, republicans are tripping over themselves trying to distract and deflect the American People with this shameful show. The department of justice and the fbi under former President Trump spent five, five long years looking into these republican Conspiracy Theories and debunked them. Repeatedly. So now in a vein attempt to deflect from the chaos and confusion they are causing, House Republicans want to dig them up yet again. So professor gerhardt, what would you say is primary flaw in the House Republican claims about President Biden . Well, i suppose i can say a lot, the problem is the dots are not connected. The name repeated most often is hunter biden. Not President Biden. And the point of an Impeachment Inquiry is not about a president s son, it has to be about the president himself and i dont think those dots connected. Lots of assumptions and accusations, not evidence. Thank you. These falsehoods about President Biden did not change the will of people in 2020, yet my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are at it again holding another hearing on baseless allegations, looking for facts that just dont exist. Instead of fulfilling our duty to governor, my colleague threaten Government Shutdown dangerous for most vulnerable communities. With that, i yield my time to Ranking Member. I would urge you to yield to mr. Goldman. I yield to mr. Goldman. Thank you, i thank my colleague. Ms. Oconnor, you testified the 99page doj tax memo gave full authorization for the charges . That is what the whistleblowers reported. The whistleblowers reported it was Discretion Finding and im sure you understand there is full authorization, there is discretion and there is declination and when they give a discretion determination, that is because there are serious holes and flaws and they leave it to the discretion of the u. S. Attorney whether or not they want to charge it. Isnt that correct . No, not at all. Discretion is not based on holes and flaws, it is based on ability of that district to prosecute that case and that 99page memo referred to in the testimony and what do you mean ability. The other times it did not mention discretion at all. Gentlemans time is expired, chair recognizes mr. Palmer from alabama for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, im disturbed about what ive heard here today, there is a saying if you have facts, the pound the facts, if you dont have the facts, you pound the table. When you cant pound the table democratic colleagues pound the witnesses. That is inexcusable. Attacking witnesses personally instead of addressing merits of evidence presented indicate democratic colleagues know evidence is conclusive. Reminds me from a few good men, you cant handle the truth. The evidence will either convict or acquit in any criminal proceeding or civil proceeding. If there is no wrongdo being, evidence or lack of evidence will support that conclusion. The problem of suspig of wrongdoing is compounded by misrepresentation of evidence in hand and obstruction of investigation but not denying access to information that would be or could be evidence. At this point, there is growing Public Perception and it is reflected in the polls, mr. Chairman, President Biden, his son and other Business Associates were engaged in some form of criminal activity. It is responsibility of this committee to pursue the truth and report to the American People. Not sure that is happening. It is vitally important that efforts be conducted openly without prejudice, with no other agenda other than arriving at truth regardless of politics. It is vitally important. As Professor Turley pointed out, you dont undertake Impeachment Inquiry lightly. This is has profound implications for the future of this country and our ability to govern ourselves. We have seen repeatedly Obstruction Efforts to deny this Committee Access to information that is material to this investigation. I want to ask Professor Turley a question. In your view, could promise of foreign access to any official, government official, whether Vice President or anybody else, that only materially benefited a family member, could that be Influence Pedalling . Yes. As i point out in the testimony, courts have found that various benefits to Family Members can be attributed as benefit to principle that included everything from throwing a golf contest in favor of a son of a politician to a paying for gifts. I was lead counsel in the last portius Impeachment Trial for a judge. That was the trial in the u. S. Senate. My clinton judge portius was accused of benefits going to his family. There is certainly precedent, not only in criminal cases, in impeachment cases for making that nexus. I want to be more specific. If Vice President biden used his office to influence the financial benefit of his son, even though Vice President biden may never have received a dime, but it resulted in millions of dollars going to his son or his brother or other Family Members or Business Associates and used his office to influence domestic or foreign policy, for their benefit, could that be violation of public trust . Absolutely. In fact, it is perhaps the most quintessential violation of public trust because you are not acting in the public interest, it is form of Public Corruption that this government, this country, has declared is corrupt in other countries around the world. Sir, i want to jump on your time, you have important things to do, i would like to respond to the attack you mentioned. You may do so. Explain what that attack dealt with, nothing else for members of the committee and my three children who may be surprised by what they just heard. As they know, ive spent my life challenging what is called moral legislation, democratic member attacked me for are laws that dictate to others how they should live their lives, some laws have been used against gay and lesbian couples, or against minorities. The individual described, i condemned, i represented sister wives challenging that law on the basis of individual rights, the trial court ruled in our favor and struck down that law the first time that type of law had ever been struck down. Tenth circuit dismissed on technical ground. One other thing, that is it is not going to make a difference thchl has become a pattern of witnesses, whistleblowers, fbi agents, journalists, being attacked in congress. It wont make any difference. It wont change constitutional standard or negate any evidence you have. But some point, you have to say enough. We have to have something, the public has to have something in congress to look to to have faith and i have to tell you, not that i think that absurd attack meant any difference to my children or people watching, it makes a difference to our process. Witnesses should not have i hate to interrupt, could our witness get equal time, we are a minute over . Gentlemans time expired, he responsed to false allegations and i apologize for how you have been treated and apologize to the American People watching for the parliamentary stunts the other side has pulled. The title of this hearing is Impeachment Inquiry. And i think that mr. Turley has done a good job explaining the basis for why we need to take Impeachment Inquiry and move forward. We have led this investigation and now we need the Impeachment Inquiry status as we move forward to get the information we have been obstructed by this administration and by this family. That is what the purpose of this hearing is, dont create another false narrative. With mr. Gomez from california. Mr. Chairman, what obstruction were you referring to . Miss stansberry from new mexico. Thank you mr. Chairman, and thank you to mr. Donald trump for calling this hearing today. As it demonstrates, the house gop and Donald Trumps continued attacks on our institutions and on our democracy and the house gops complete inability to govern in a serious manner. As they are holding this hearing as we see just two days before a potential devastating Government Shutdown, and the fact most republican members on the committee didnt even bother to show up for the hearing this morning. Their own star witness said right here in this committee this morning that he doesnt even believe that theres enough evidence to meet the standards needed for impeachment. And in doing this, our colleagues across the aisle are making a mockery of this institution and of our constitution, Conspiracy Theories, peddling the theories that Rudy Giuliani and donald trump themselves tried to get the American People to believe and which Donald Trumps doj debunked. Its outrageous. So lets be clear about what this hearing