On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) acknowledged that we haven’t gotten to the bottom of the message sent by Hunter Biden threatening retaliation from his father while talking to a Chinese businessman, but argued that Republicans are “not doing real oversight, they’re not trying to get to the bottom of this. They’re trying to pump up Trump’s numbers in the polls by going after the Biden family, trying to turn them into the Sopranos. It’s a complete joke.” And wondered why anyone should believe IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, when, “In the last administration, Republicans said that all these whistleblowers were part of the deep state” and couldn’t be believed.
Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “You are on the Oversight Committee, and there are two IRS whistleblowers who say an investigation into Hunter Biden was slow-walked and they’re going to be testifying on Wednesday. Do you have concerns about something — of course, your Republican colleagues have very much zeroed in on — which is this WhatsApp text message where Hunter Biden is invoking his father while he is looking for a commitment, raising the question of if he was looking for a payment from a Chinese business partner?”
Moskowitz responded, “Well, first of all, my Republican colleagues in Oversight, which have turned the committee into a circus, their first whistleblower turns out to be a Chinese foreign agent, someone working with the Iranian regime and selling illegal Chinese weapons to the Libyans. And so, that, obviously, questions the entire investigation process that they’re willing to stoop to that level.”
He continued, “Additionally, they’re working with this guy now at the IRS. In the last administration, Republicans said that all these whistleblowers were part of the deep state, right? And we shouldn’t listen to a word they say. So, is Gary [Shapley], the guy they’ve called from the IRS, is he a member of the deep state? Was he not paying his deep state dues? Did he disassociate from the deep state? Why do we believe anything he says? And, oh, by the way, the prosecutor, David Weiss, who was appointed by Donald Trump, who’s been leading that investigation, has already — has questioned some of the things that Gary Shapley has said. So, look, this is all in an effort to own Hunter Biden. Look, obviously, he’s someone who struggled with certain things in his life. He lost his brother at a young age, lost his mom –.”
Keilar then cut in to ask, “Yes, he lost his sister, lost his mom, then lost his brother, had a substance abuse issue. No doubt about this. People with substance abuse problems obviously do things that people without them do not. He could have been lying in this text message. That’s entirely possible. Yes, Republicans stand to gain politically and have certainly seized on this issue. All of those things you are correct about. But this text message — I mean, isn’t it also important to get to the bottom of this, especially when you have so many Democrats who were concerned about President Trump’s adult children and his son-in-law who were using their positions for financial gain? Are they upholding that same standard now on this?”
Moskowitz answered, “Well, Trump’s children were in the administration, number one. And number two, Trump’s son-in-law, who was also in the administration, in the administration, right? Couldn’t pass security clearance and then they overruled –.”
Keilar then asked, “Well, some of them were, just to be clear, some of them were, some of them were not. In this case, at the time, you’re correct, Hunter Biden’s father was not in the administration, but, of course, he would later go on to be president. So, these are all obviously — someone with a political future. And this is a real text message. Is this something that it’s important to get to the bottom of?”
Moskowitz responded, “Well, as you pointed out, okay, we have a text message — look, there’s a prosecutor that’s been looking at issues like this now for five years. And so, if Hunter Biden violated the law, then, just like we say about Donald Trump, no one is above the law, then, obviously, the prosecutor needs to bring charges, just like they did on the tax issue and on the gun issue. That being said, we don’t know if Joe Biden was sitting next to Hunter. That’s the bipolar thing that my colleagues do. They come out and they say, Hunter Biden, he does drugs and he does this and he does that, and then they find a text message and they want to treat it like it came down from Mount Sinai on a tablet from Moses. We have no idea what this text message means. And so, they’re not doing real oversight, they’re not trying to get to the bottom of this. They’re trying to pump up Trump’s numbers in the polls by going after the Biden family, trying to turn them into the Sopranos. It’s a complete joke. And it’s not the same as what went on in the Trump administration with Jared Kushner taking $2 billion from the Saudis.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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