Even if members of the House Oversight Committee vote to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for refusing to participate in a closed-door deposition as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, the Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland won't move forward with charging him, Rep. Tim Burchett said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"This administration is totally gutless and derelict in all their duties and this is just another indication of that," the Tennessee Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." That's why at some point, Congress is going to have to get serious and talk. We are the purse strings of this country, of this government, and we [need to start] exercising that [and] get some real guts and do something."
His comments came before the Oversight and Judiciary committees were to vote Wednesday on moving the contempt charges forward for a full House vote.
On Monday the committee released a 19-page report that recommended the president's son be held in contempt of Congress after he said he would only testify publicly, not behind closed doors.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the full House would hold a vote to send the certification of contempt to a U.S. attorney after the committees hold their vote, and the enforcement of contempt statutes would take place through the Department of Justice.
But Wednesday, Burchett told Newsmax that "this talk is cheap," as is writing letters while "knowing that the Justice Department will not do anything … the American public is growing really tired of this."
Hunter Biden, he added, "basically just thumbed his nose at the system that we have and probably colluded with his father, which is just another problem in itself."
The president's son also has "gone through millions of dollars from foreign investments" without any proof that any taxes were paid on any of his earnings, but "they just shrug and go away," said Burchett.
Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee Tuesday interviewed Hunter Biden's Manhattan art broker, Georges Bergès, in a closed-door interview during which Bergès denied working with the White House on an ethics pact to keep the buyers of paintings anonymous.
Further, he said that the first son knew who his top purchasers were, despite claims made by the White House that they were not known, while Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said that the "vast majority of Hunter Biden's art has been purchased by Democrat donors."
"Well, I have some incredible drawings of Bigfoot that I would gladly sell anyone that I've drawn," Burchett told Newsmax. "They're Tim Burchett originals, but they're worth about as much as Hunter Biden's. All these people are doing is buying influence. It's clear it's just another back door to corruption."
That further shows "the arrogance of these people," but the Justice Department "just continues to shrug its shoulders and say, 'Well, that's OK.' But it's not OK. These people are buying influence … the guy has no art training. He's no more an artist than I am the Man on the Moon."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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