With control of the Senate up for grabs in November, Republicans are already talking about what their potential focuses will be on when they chair influential committees with the power of subpoena.
"Like everything?" Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told The Hill. "It's like a mosquito in a nudist colony, it's a target rich environment.
"I'll be that mosquito," he added. "Hard to tell what targets I might pick. They'll all be juicy."
Whether it is Hunter Biden, his laptop, the border, Dr. Anthony Fauci, coronavirus officials, Afghanistan, or the military – Republicans are lining up plans to put Democrats and the Biden administration on the defensive.
While Johnson is term-limited from chairing a full committee again, he is likely to chair the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations.
Others like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have a clear focus: Fauci and coronavirus.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is homed in on the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal and the military.
But the Bidens and the administration – which promised to be "the most transparent" – will be put under bright lights of Congress and a fine microscope, particularly when it comes to the "laptop from hell."
"Big Tech's censorship of a story the liberal media has now acknowledged to be true just proves that a Republican House majority must take meaningful action to rein in Big Tech censors next year," Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., who has a difficult reelection campaign under redistrictring, told the New York Post. "All options should be on the table, including probes into their conduct and its impact on the democratic process."
Paul has already been hot on holding Fauci accountable from the periphery, but he would become the chairman of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
"There's so much more in terms of what happened with our federal health agencies that we need to explore," Johnson told The Hill.
"The lack of transparency in these agencies," he continued. "The lack of their willingness to comply with legitimate congressional oversight. I mean I think that's an investigation right there, is why can't Congress conduct legitimate oversight anymore."
Johnson has already been hard at work trying to investigate the depths of Hunter Biden's foreign entanglements, particularly with Ukraine, Russia, and China. Two of those countries are now at war, and another one is believed to have designs on reclaiming Taiwan under President Joe Biden.
"I'd kind of like that to wrap that up," Johnson told The Hill. "We've been trying to get his travel records for a couple of years now."
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted a call Saturday for "accountability," while former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell has tweeted and told Newsmax about the need to get to the bottom of the intelligence officials who claimed – without evidence – the Biden laptop story was "Russian disinformation."
"It's sad – we're all talking about disinformation in Russia and other totalitarian countries and we are learning that we have it right here at home," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told the Post.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is expected to be a prominent figure on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was previously chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the past time the GOP had the gavel.
"The most basic accountability requires firing those responsible for the 'Russian disinfo' lie about the Biden family's corruption, including and especially the former intelligence officials who were elevated to the top of cable news because they pushed wild and unsubstantiated Russia conspiracy theories about President Trump," Cruz told the Post.
"Furthermore, Big Tech leaders who participated in censoring the truth should answer to Congress and the American people in sworn testimony."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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