As told by Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post….
Who asks are the House Republicans actually helping Putin by going after President’s son?
She persuasively applies a “a basic three-part formula” employed by psychologists who study conspiracy theories “for disentangling truth from fiction, one that activates the rational, analytical side, rather than the lizard, fight-or-flight side, of the brain.” Her takeaway: The conspiracy theorists have reached the “temper tantrum” stage of the Hunter Biden “scandal.”
Obviously, there is no legitimate basis for congressional “oversight” of the matter. And that brings us to the current faceoff between the Republican chairmen of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, on one side, and 50 or so former intelligence officials, on the other.
In October 2020, these officials crafted a statement that appeared in Politico alleging that appearance of the laptop and emails purporting to relate to Hunter Biden’s time on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”….
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Perhaps Republicans imagine the former intelligence officials were put up to signing the statement pointing the finger at Russia as part of a Democratic plot to mislead voters. (Talk about projection!) Whatever the reason for this GOP fishing expedition, it would be a dangerous threat to the First Amendment if Congress could haul in for questioning any private citizen (as the former officials were at the time) to explain an op-ed or open letter.
And, ironically, it would be an illegitimate and inappropriate use of congressional power — a weaponization of government — if every president’s family members and their associates and defenders could be summoned to testify about a made-up controversy….
House Republicans get info Hunter Biden and the Biden family….
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Tuesday announced the Treasury Department granted the panel access to long-sought financial transaction reports related to companies associated with the Biden family or their associates, following delays and pushback.
The reports, called suspicious activity reports, will add to the panel’s probe into the business activities of the president’s son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden, as well as their associates….