White House Angry over ‘Weaponization’ Panel Investigating Political Bias

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Ian Sams, the special assistant to President Joe Biden, unleashed an angry and partisan statement over the new House select subcommittee’s first hearing Thursday to uproot the political weaponization within the federal government against political opponents.

The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s first hearing will set the stage for House Republicans to unearth and expose political bias within the federal government often directed towards those who oppose the establishment, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), House GOP conference chair, told Breitbart News on Wednesday.

The hearing will feature former members of the FBI and Republican and Democrat lawmakers concerned about the political weaponization against the American people by the federal government. Stefanik told Breitbart News those abuses include the raid on Mari-a-Largo, spying on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and the FBI agent indicted after working on Bob Mueller’s special counsel.

But the White House is apparently unhappy the House select subcommittee would conduct hearings on the weaponization of government. In a letter released Thursday morning, just hours before the hearing, the special assistant to Biden, Sams, slammed the subcommittee as “Un-American” political stunt that is only a priority of MAGA Republicans.

“Today, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is launching the Fox News reboot of the House Un-American Activities Committee with a political stunt that weaponizes Congress to carry out the priorities of extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress,” the letter read.

Ian Sams, with the White House counsel’s office, speaks to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. The FBI has searched President Joe Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Del., home as part of its investigation into the potential mishandling of classified documents. Biden’s attorney says that agents didn’t find any classified documents during the Wednesday search, but did take some handwritten notes and other materials relating to Biden’s time as vice president for review. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Sams also called the committee’s Republicans extreme while demanding they become bipartisan.

“These extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress are choosing to make it their top priority to go down the rabbit hole of debunked conspiracy theories about a ‘deep state’ instead of taking a deep breath and deciding to work with the President and Democrats in Congress,” he said.

After demanding “extreme” Republicans become bipartisan, Sams launched into a partisan attack by suggesting Republicans should investigate the Trump administration for political bias.

“If these extreme MAGA Republicans in the House want to use this committee to examine ‘weaponization’ of government, they could start by looking at many of the actions of the previous administration,” the letter read.

The select subcommittee is led by Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and features 21 members — 12 Republicans and nine Democrats. Notable Republicans on the subcommittee are Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Dan Bishop (R-NC), and Dan Goldman (D-NY).

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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