Republicans Warn of Reprisals if They Win Back the House in 2022 – The New Republic

For the first two years of Trumps presidency, Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate. They werent very interested in looking into wrongdoing by Trump or other members of his administration, even when there were numerous indications that it was taking place. One area where some members readily used their oversight powers, however, was to go after the Russia investigation and those who had set it into motion. Most of these actions took place through the House Intelligence Committee; its then-chairman, Devin Nunes, is retiring from Congress after this term to join Trumps new media operation.

Its doubtful that Republicans would take a similarly laissez-faire approach to executive branch oversight if they win next November. To the contrary, they have expressed interest in a wide range of issues already. Some arent completely without merit: Lawmakers from both parties have demanded answers about the chaotic nature of the Afghanistan withdrawal over the summer. But others have a more partisan sheen. In September, a group of GOP members of the House Oversight Committee requested documents from an art gallery owner about his role in the sale of Hunter Bidens paintings.

The younger Biden is no stranger to bad-faith GOP inquiries. Trumps first impeachment, in 2019, came after Congress learned he had pressured the Ukrainian government to smear the elder Biden with corruption allegations related to his son, a Ukrainian energy company that Hunter had worked for while his father was vice president, and Joe Bidens own role in pressuring Ukraine on an investigation into that company. The Burisma allegations never made much sense because Biden was pressuring a Ukrainian prosecutor to go harder, not easier, on the company. Even the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security Committee failed to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing on Bidens part when it released a report on the matter last September.

So it would be unsurprising that the GOP might want to take another whack at the presidents troubled son after 2022, or go after any high-ranking Biden administration officials, or even try to target prominent people in the Democratic orbit. Top Republican lawmakers havent exactly hidden their ambitions to use congressional investigations to inflict political damage on their Democratic opponents. After four Americans died in a terrorist attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya in 2012, GOP lawmakers spent the next four years holding hearings and launching probes into the attack. Congress couldnt be faulted for launching inquiries into an incident in which a U.S. ambassador died, of course, but it soon became obvious that its real target was thenSecretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Republicans Warn of Reprisals if They Win Back the House in 2022 - The New Republic