White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly insisted Thursday House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has “no evidence” behind it.
Jean-Pierre spoke to reporters at the White House press briefing Thursday and said there was “no evidence” for the impeachment inquiry, despite publicly available bank records, emails, texts, testimony, White House visitor logs and additional documents showing otherwise. (RELATED: DOJ Prosecutor Accused Of Protecting Joe And Hunter Biden Departs Her Post)
“Can you explain to people why the president interacted with so many of his relatives who are his associates and why he continues to deny any interaction?”
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: “What happened to the funding to Ukraine!?” pic.twitter.com/yArceYAHYW
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 14, 2023
“Could you explain to people why the president interacted with so many of his relatives’ foreign associates and why he continues to deny any interaction. How should people think about this?” asked New York Post reporter Steven Nelson over 50 minutes into the briefing.
“What we’re seeing from House Republicans is wasted time, and it is certainly a baseless political stunt. That’s what we’re seeing,” Jean-Pierre replied. (RELATED: Comer, Jordan To Begin Contempt Of Congress Proceedings Against Hunter Biden After He Defies Subpoena)
“Look, you know, there’s been zero evidence, zero evidence, you can ask me about engagement and what the president has done with his family in conversation but there’s no evidence. Wait, wait, but there’s no evidence. There’s no evidence the president has done wrongdoing. Absolutely none,” she added.
Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee in July and said Joe Biden spoke with his son’s business associates around 20 times. Archer further recalled a spring 2014 dinner Joe Biden attended alongside Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and a spring 2015 dinner Joe Biden attended with Vadim Pozharskyi, an executive from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings.
Burisma paid Hunter Biden as much as $83,333.33 per month when his father was vice president and handling the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy, bank records indicate. The firm slashed Hunter Biden’s salary when the Obama administration concluded in January 2017 and former President Donald Trump took office, according to an indictment leveled against Hunter Biden by a federal grand jury in California for nine tax related charges.
Rob Walker, another former business associate, recalled Joe Biden attending a meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese business associates after his vice presidency, according to a transcript of a December 2020 interview he gave to the FBI. (RELATED: Chinese Business Associate Paid Hunter Biden $1,000,000 For Non-Existent Legal Services, Docs Show)
Walker received $3 million from State Energy HK, an account belonging to Chinese firm CEFC, and distributed $1 million of the funds to Biden family members, bank records and the California indictment show.
White House visitor logs from the Obama administration show Hunter Biden’s business associates visited over 80 times, Fox News reported. Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden’s, recalled meeting Joe Biden to talk business after his vice presidency, according to an FBI FD-302 interview summary.
Joe Biden denied speaking with his son’s business associates Dec. 6 after email metadata released by the House Ways and Means Committee showed he exchanged over 50 emails with former Hunter Biden business associate Eric Schwerin.
Then-Vice President Biden appeared to use an alias to communicate privately with Schwerin in spring 2014, around the time Joe Biden went to Ukraine in June 2014, only months after his son joined Burisma’s board.
House Republicans on the Ways and Means, Oversight and Judiciary Committees are leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
House lawmakers voted along party lines Wednesday night to formalize the impeachment inquiry.