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When pressed by NBC News reporter Ryan Nobles on the timing of the message, which according to the panel’s records was sent after Biden concluded his second term as vice president but before his 2020 campaign, and how Biden could have been exerting political influence if he wasn’t in office or a presidential candidate, Smith sidestepped the question.
“Well, I think the facts speak for themselves. There’s over 700 pages of examples of where people should be very concerned,” Smith said, adding later that Biden “was a candidate” during that period.
Biden launched his 2020 bid in April 2019.
During the news conference, Smith also pointed to an August 2020 email from U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf allegedly directing investigators to remove all mentions of Biden, who was referred to as “political figure one,” from a search warrant for an investigation involving his son. Wolf had been part of U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ team investigating Hunter Biden.
Asked by Nobles about the timing of Wolf’s email, sent during the Trump administration when Bill Barr was U.S. attorney general, Smith suggested that Donald Trump’s role as president was inconsequential to the underlying assertion that there’s a two-tiered justice system in the United States.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee appeared to grow frustrated Wednesday as he struggled to respond to a series of questions at a news conference related to his panel’s investigation into President Joe Biden and allegations of influence peddling.
Referring to the WhatsApp message, Smith said that Hunter Biden told a business associate that he was not willing to “sign over my family’s brand.”
"We need to make sure the Department of Justice works for all people and doesn’t treat those who are politically connected or wealthy much differently.
The comments come a day before the House Oversight Committee holds its first impeachment inquiry hearing focused on the president.
Smith said in a statement that he believed the material, which consists of 700 pages of documents from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, “is vital to understanding efforts by top officials to protect Joe Biden.”
The committee’s ranking Democratic member Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a separate press event Wednesday that Republicans had presented “no conclusive new information.”
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