House Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer (R-Ky.), issued a subpoena to AT&T last week, seeking over ten years of phone records pertaining to President Joe Biden’s son.
The subpoena, acquired by HuffPost on March 6th, requested AT&T to provide all records of user activity, encompassing texts and call logs, associated with Hunter Biden’s accounts since 2011.
In their impeachment inquiry against the president, Republicans have formally requested Hunter Biden’s phone records. Despite thousands of pages of Biden family bank records and numerous witness interviews, no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden has been found so far.
Last month, the impeachment effort faced a significant setback after the Justice Department revealed charges against an FBI informant. The informant’s alleged false statements had been a crucial piece of evidence in the case against Biden. Despite this setback, Republicans have continued their investigation, as demonstrated by the AT&T subpoena.
In a staff memo obtained by HuffPost, Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), strongly criticized the subpoena on Tuesday. They argued that the subpoena sought records spanning 15 years, even though it specifically requested material from 2011 onwards.
According to the memo, the recent subpoena requesting 15 years of Hunter Biden’s phone records is seen as another attempt by Republicans to investigate President Biden without finding any evidence of wrongdoing. The memo argues that the investigation is merely a way for the Chairman to harass the President and his family, cater to Donald Trump’s desire for revenge, and promote Russian propaganda and disinformation.
A comment was sought from Comer’s spokesperson but no immediate response was received. Similarly, AT&T was also contacted for comment but did not respond immediately.
Since last year, Republicans have disclosed the majority of the subpoenas and interview requests they have issued. However, there are still some that have not been made public.
In the Democratic memo, Comer expressed his suspicion that the phone records may also include a personal phone line used by Joe Biden during his time as vice president.
According to Comer, Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business deals. This claim is supported by testimonies from former associates of Hunter Biden who stated that he would put his father on speakerphone during their company meetings. However, these witnesses also mentioned that the elder Biden would only exchange pleasantries and not discuss business matters.
Devon Archer, who worked alongside Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, revealed to investigators last year about an important phone call. According to Archer, Burisma officials had requested Hunter Biden to make a call to Washington D.C. in December 2015, with the intention of seeking assistance for the company. Republicans have made unfounded claims that this phone call led to then-Vice President Joe Biden pressuring for the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor.
During his deposition last month, Hunter Biden emphatically denied ever making any calls to anyone in Washington in order to use his influence on behalf of Burisma. He firmly stated, “It never happened.”
