White House counsel Edward Siskel delivered a resounding message to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, urging him to “move on” in an unprecedented letter that demanded the cessation of efforts to impeach President Joe Biden.
Following the lackluster closed-door testimony of Hunter Biden, which was arranged after Hunter’s attempt to participate in a public hearing several weeks earlier, many Republicans and their allies are now seeking an exit strategy from the impeachment inquiry. This inquiry has garnered attention primarily for its role in elevating the phrase “no evidence” to prominence on cable news networks.
On Friday, the White House issued a scathing letter directed at Johnson, imploring him to halt the impeachment process. Siskel’s letter included quotes from witnesses and media outlets to bolster his argument.
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I write to you today because it is clear the House Republican impeachment is over. Just this week, it has been reported that members of the House Majority believe the inquiry is “falling apart.” One House Republican leadership aide told a news outlet the Majority has uncovered “nothing anywhere close to an impeachable offense.” A Republican Congressman told Fox News the Majority “can’t identify a particular crime.”
Another Republican Congressman, Ken Buck, even decided to resign next week because the House has “taken impeachment and made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept,” adding, “This place just keeps going downhill, and I don’t need to spend more time here.”
The assessment of Congressman Buck, himself a former federal prosecutor and district attorney, is in line with conclusions from legal scholars and experts from across the ideological spectrum that there is no constitutionally sound basis to impeach the President. One group of legal experts, including a former federal judge appointed by President Reagan, wrote that this impeachment inquiry is “a misuse of power” and “manifestly unjustified.” Another constitutional law scholar called it “a heedless descent into constitutional anarchy.” The House Majority ought to work with the President on our economy, national security, and other important priorities on behalf of the American people, not continue to waste time on political stunts like this.
For over a year, House Republicans have been investigating President Biden in an effort to find something—anything—to hurt the President politically. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer admitted it is about damaging the President’s poll numbers, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan admitted his investigations are about helping “frame up the 2024 race” to “make sure” the former President “wins.”
Instead, the investigation has continually turned up evidence that, in fact, the President did nothing wrong.
The House Majority has reportedly collected more than 100,000 pages of records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and held multiple public hearings—but none of the evidence has demonstrated that the President did anything wrong. In fact, it has shown the opposite of what House Republicans have claimed. The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have heard from not one, not two, but more than 20 witnesses who have all confirmed this.
1. Hunter Biden testified that he never involved his father in his business dealings.
2. James Biden testified that the President “never had any involvement” in his business dealings.
3. Eric Schwerin, who had helped the President with personal finances, testified he was “not aware of any financial transactions or compensation that Vice President Biden received related to business conducted by any of his family members or their associates, nor any involvement by him in their businesses – none.”
4. Hunter Biden’s former business associate Rob Walker testified the President “was never involved” in his family’s business dealings and “any statement to the contrary is simply false.”
5. Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified he was “not aware” of any wrongdoing by the President.
6. Hunter Biden’s former business associate Mervyn Yan testified unequivocally that the President was never involved in any of their business dealings.
7. An art gallery owner who worked with Hunter Biden testified the President was not involved in Hunter Biden’s art sales.
8. Hunter Biden’s friend Kevin Morris testified he had never discussed Hunter Biden’s business ventures with the President, nor had he “ever asked President Biden to take an official action on [his] behalf.”
9. The trustee for a company that did business with James Biden, when asked if she had any evidence the President was involved in their business, testified, “No, I don’t.”
10. James Biden’s former business associate Joseph Langston testified that the President was never involved in any of their business dealings.
11. Testimony from at least seven witnesses from the Justice Department, FBI, and IRS has disputed other House impeachment allegations—including bogus claims of political interference with law enforcement. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
12. Several witnesses have testified debunking claims related to President Biden’s handling of classified documents. (1, 2, 3)
Even the Majority’s hand-picked “expert” witnesses have testified that impeachment is totally unwarranted:
• Jonathan Turley, a witness in the first “impeachment hearing,” testified that he did “not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.”
• Bruce Dubinsky, another witness at the same hearing, testified, “I am not here today to even suggest that there was corruption, fraud, or any wrongdoing.” This mountain of testimony has only laid bare that the President did nothing wrong. It is supported by the voluminous set of records you have received that reveal the same.
• The Washington Post reported: “Despite reviewing thousands of bank records, they haven’t shown a link between Biden and his family’s business deals. And there is no evidence he personally benefited financially.”
• CNN reported: “[T]he latest [House GOP] report does not show any payments made directly to Joe Biden, either as vice president or after leaving office.”
• NBC News reported: “As part of the investigation, Republican lawmakers, however, have repeatedly released financial documents that failed to prove any of the accusations.”
This impeachment inquiry in large part has been based on allegations made by troubling sources, as recent developments have made clear. In February, the source of a bribery allegation that the Majority spent much of 2023 promoting was criminally charged for making it up. Prosecutors even said he had been in contact with Russian intelligence. This is not the first time in this investigation the Majority has pushed false allegations from discredited figures. Last year, an individual Chairman Comer called a “very credible” informant was indicted on allegations he brokered illegal Iranian arms deals and served as an unregistered Chinese agent.
He remains a fugitive to this day. Two witnesses the Majority plans to feature at an impeachment hearing next week are felons convicted of fraud.
Finally, the Majority cannot identify any policy or governing decisions that were supposedly improperly influenced. Chairman Comer could not provide any when asked—nor could at least two other Republican Oversight Committee members. (1, 2) With these allegations about the President disproven time and time again, House Republicans have tried to grasp at the recently closed Special Counsel investigation of the President as a flotation device for the sinking impeachment effort, despite the fact that this issue was not even a subject of this impeachment inquiry, according to the Majority’s own impeachment resolution and accompanying report. In any event, as this week’s hearing with the Special Counsel made clear, after a 15-month investigation, a former Trump-appointee prosecutor reviewed all the evidence and closed the case.
Instead of admitting the truth that the President did nothing wrong, the Majority is wasting even more time on abusive steps like trying to re-interview witnesses who already testified—perhaps hoping the facts will be different the second time around. This is just the latest abusive tactic in this investigation. It has targeted the President’s children, grandchildren, siblings, and in-laws for no reason. It has intruded into private citizens’ personal records on everything from medical visits to birthday presents. Enough is enough. It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker. This impeachment is over. There is too much important work to be done for the American people to continue wasting time on this charade.
Important priorities like funding our ally Ukraine and passing bipartisan border security measures are not getting the attention they deserve because House Republicans are distracted by this divisive political sideshow. Let’s get to work solving the issues that matter to the American people.
Sincerely,
Edward N. Siskel Counsel to the President
