00:00I yield back.
00:01Chair, thank you.
00:02The gentleman generally yields back, Chair.
00:03I recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania for questions.
00:04Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
00:05I appreciate it.
00:06You know, I think that there's only one question that we have to deal with here, and that's
00:10one question only.
00:11Can the executive branch ignore a subpoena that's not only lawful but valid?
00:18That's the one question we're here to decide.
00:20Everything else is just a complete distraction.
00:22Chairman Comer, would you like to talk about that?
00:25I mean, look, we are the congressional overseers of the executive branch.
00:32We have checks and balances in our system.
00:34That's the way it was set up.
00:36And we have requested these audio recordings.
00:42The reason that we stumbled upon President Biden's mishandling of classified documents
00:49throughout the Biden influence investigation was there were emails on the laptop that
00:57we now know was 100 percent legitimate because that was the major piece of evidence in the
01:03court case that Mr. McGovern cited a dozen times, it seemed like, in the last 30 minutes.
01:09There were emails on there that looked like they could be, potentially be, classified
01:15documents.
01:16And the thing that the investigation has revealed is, with the tens of millions of dollars that
01:23the Bidens have taken in from our adversaries around the world, there was never a business
01:28purpose.
01:29You know, they say, the media will say, or the Democrats say, well, Hunter Biden and
01:34Jim Biden, Joe Biden's business dealings, what business was it they were in?
01:39Because we haven't ever found a legitimate business.
01:43The business, according to at least two people who testified under oath, and that would be
01:48Bob Olinsky and Jason Galanis, was, they were selling, and three, Captain Devin Archer,
01:54three former Biden associates said the business was selling the Biden brand.
01:59That is called influence peddling.
02:01Were the classified documents, were any of the classified documents used in the Biden
02:07influence peddling scheme?
02:09That's the question the Oversight Committee has with respect to the classified documents.
02:13And look, I think it's, this is about transparency.
02:17Again, and I can't say this enough, it's not just the House Republicans requesting these
02:23documents.
02:24The Associated Press, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, that's their
02:30people.
02:31Their people want it too.
02:33The American people want it.
02:35Poll after poll shows the American people want transparency.
02:40So if there's nothing wrong with the tapes, then just disclose them.
02:43Mr.
02:44Well, hold on.
02:45Mr. Rat, I'm not, you know, you know me, I'm not going to leave you hanging like that.
02:48If you want to, go ahead.
02:49Well, but I just wanted to be certain that this constitutes the chairman's endorsement
02:53for every petition by the Washington Post and ABC and CBS and CNN to get information.
02:59For example, they were asking for all the information that Donald Trump was suppressing
03:02for several years and wouldn't give to Congress.
03:05Do you agree it should be released because the media wanted it?
03:09What was the question?
03:10Mr. Raskin?
03:11Well, I'll write it out for you, Mr. Nadler.
03:14I just want to point out that the contrary to what the distinguished chairman said, the
03:20House Republicans didn't quote stumble on Biden documents.
03:24President Biden's personal counsel found the documents at the Penn Biden Center and voluntarily
03:33reported them to the FBI.
03:35This cooperation was one reason that special counsel Herr declined to indict Biden.
03:42And I would contrast this with President Trump, who has hidden, you know, who refused to turn
03:51over documents, who necessitated the court to order a search warrant, and who apparently
03:57hid documents from the agents executing the search warrant.
04:02And that's why the special counsel in the one case, President Trump, has asked the grand
04:10jury and got a grand jury to indict him.
04:12And in the other case with President Biden, Mr. Herr declined to ask a grand jury to indict
04:20him and said there was no crime.
04:22I mean, I get what you're saying, Mr. Nadler.
04:25I'm just counter with the fact that the decision not to prosecute President Biden was because
04:31of the demeanor that was seen on that tape.
04:33And there was an assessment.
04:34That is not true.
04:35If you read the report, there are many reasons cited for not for the decision not to indict.
04:45And I mentioned a few of them a moment ago.
04:47There are many reasons cited.
04:48And I think it's a 231 or 261 page report.
04:53And that's why I called the comment about the president's cognitive ability gratuitous,
04:57because that was not any one of the major reasons given in the report for declining to indict.
05:04It's my understanding that one of the major reasons was that it was in the report is that
05:09President Biden would present to a jury, as I believe the quote was a well-meaning, I
05:16forget the exact word, but basically that he doesn't know what's going on.
05:19I recommend you read the report and see all the other reasons why they declined to indict.
05:24But in particular, the cooperation, the cooperation that I just mentioned, that it was the President
05:31Biden's personal counsel who found the documents at the Penn-Biden Center and voluntarily reported
05:39them to the FBI.
05:41OK, but again, it was the demeanor and how he would present to a jury that he'd be sympathetic,
05:47that people would think he doesn't have control, mental acuity enough.
05:51Let me say this, I don't want to get into a debate.
05:56We cannot talk over each other.
05:57Gentlemen, suspend.
05:59The clerk cannot keep up with us when we crosstalk.
06:02So let's one at a time.
06:06Let me say this.
06:08That quote has been used and may have been put there for all I know to question the president's
06:13cognitive ability.
06:14I don't know why he put that in.
06:16But the fact is, there's going to be two debates and the public will be able to judge the president's
06:21cognitive ability and for that matter, the former president's cognitive abilities.
06:24There's no point debating it here.
06:26OK, OK.
06:27I'm not trying to bring this into a larger debate, but we're totally focused here.
06:32If we're talking about the privilege issue and whether or not they have a privilege,
06:37I believe they have waived that by providing the transcript, number one.
06:41Number two, when the report, now you can say it's not controlling or not, but the report
06:45does talk about his demeanor, it would be nice to see the tape so we could assess the
06:50demeanor ourselves.
06:51And again, I would say the privilege has been waived because you handed over the executive
06:54branch, not you specifically, but the executive branch has handed over the transcript.
06:59I mean, that's just my read of the situation.
07:02Mr. Rousey, before I, Mr. Comer, Chairman Comer is trying to talk too, so I will give
07:06you time, I promise.
07:07Mr. Chairman.
07:08I just wanted to say this again.
07:11I mentioned in my opening statement, our timeline doesn't match up with the White House's narrative
07:18of their timeline, of the discovery of the document.
07:21And one of the things the White House is obstructing is our ability to interview several of the
07:26White House employees about the specifics of when those mishandled classified documents
07:32were discovered.
07:33I just want to point that out.
07:34Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chairman.
07:35Mr. Raskin, and then we'll go to Ms. Hageman.
07:38Thank you, Mr. Raskin.
07:39It's really more a question for you because you make an interesting point.
07:43You assert that whatever privilege the President had, and obviously that was something that
07:48was expansively invoked by Donald Trump, but you're saying if he had an executive privilege,
07:53it was waived when he turned over the written transcript.
07:58But does that argument depend on the written transcript being a faithful transcription
08:02of the oral statements?
08:04If so, it would seem to defeat the point.
08:07I mean, let's say they're really different, then he's asserting executive privilege, presumably,
08:13for the .001% of it that hasn't been turned over yet, right?
08:20So I get what you're saying, but I would say that if the transcript is different, that's
08:24all the more reason to get the audio or the audiovisual of it so we can see if the transcript
08:30meets the audiovisual.
08:31But the fact, are you implying that the transcript was doctored?
08:35No, but that's the paranoid theory that's been floated today by some people.
08:39But no, I think that's ridiculous.
08:42In other words, I think those two arguments cut against each other.
08:45The idea that the privilege has been waived depends on the idea that the written transcript
08:52is actually a faithful record of what was spoken.
08:56And I haven't seen any evidence, certainly, that there's any difference in the two.
09:01So I think we are really splitting hairs here.
09:08I mean, it's kind of an amazing thing that we would think about holding the Attorney
09:11General of the United States in contempt for not giving the audio version when we have
09:17all these people walking around who've never given any testimony at all in answer to subpoenas
09:21and it doesn't seem to trouble, you know, at least your side of the aisle.
09:25Now, I get your argument, but I mean, again, if you've already handed over the transcript
09:31itself, I would still argue that you've already waived the privilege of then holding on to
09:35the audiovisual of the transcript.
09:37I mean, that's just my understanding.
09:38I understand you're saying we're splitting hairs here, but Ms. Hageman?
09:43Yes, a couple of things.
09:45To conflate the outcome of the two cases between Hunter Biden and President Obama, I think
09:49it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:50And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:51And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:52And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:53And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:54And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:55And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:56And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
09:57And I think it's important to understand that there's a difference between the two.
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