Rep. Stansbury Criticizes House GOP for Continuing to Hold Politicized Oversight Hearings

VIDEO LINK: The full video can be found here. 

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) called out House Republicans for misusing an Oversight and Accountability hearing as a political stunt to bolster Republican fundraising and discredit the Biden Administration for the upcoming Presidential election. The hearing focused on the IRS investigation of President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in which a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney was given full license to investigate and bring criminal charges. The hearing on the private citizen was held just one week before Hunter Biden is scheduled to plead guilty, bringing up questions of Republican interference in an ongoing criminal investigation. 

“It's clear that this is yet another attempt by the majority to turn this committee into another in kind donation to the Trump campaign,” Rep. Stansbury said, “and now here we are trying to distract the American people once more, even though it was a political appointee appointed by Donald Trump, who was at the helm of this effort when the issues we are discussing today occurred. And yet we're using the committee's resources to advance this agenda.” 

Calling out the House GOP’s hypocrisy, Rep. Stansbury highlighted, “The real criminal and the actual threat to our democratic institutions is Donald Trump. The man found legally liable for sexual abuse. The man who refused to return classified documents to the government. The man who was inciting an insurrection that led to the deaths of five people and threatened the lives of people in this very room and to threaten the very foundation of our democracy.” 

Rep. Stansbury continued, “So I find it hard to believe that members who witnessed the insurrection, who have witnessed these criminal indictments, continue to stand here today with Donald Trump and prop him up using committee resources. And I urge my colleagues to take a hard look in the mirror and to really reflect on what our oath of office means.” 

Rep. Stansbury’s full remarks as delivered are below. 

Rep Stansbury: Thank you, I'd like to get right into some basic vetting questions, as unfortunately, our colleagues across the aisle failed to do so with some of the previous witnesses that they called. And so, Mr. Ziegler, and Mr. Shapley, I'm hoping that these are very simple, very straightforward questions. So I'd like to ask that you answer them with a yes or no answer. Mr. Shapley, are you now or have you ever acted as an unregistered foreign agent for the Chinese government? Or for any other government?  

Mr. Shapley: No.  

Rep Stansbury: And Mr. Ziegler, are you now or have you ever acted as a unregistered or registered foreign agent?  

Mr. Ziegler: No.  

Rep Stansbury: And Mr. Shapley, have you ever participated in illegal arms trafficking?  

Mr. Shapley: No, I have not.  

Rep Stansbury: And Mr. Ziegler, how about yourself?  

Mr. Ziegler: I have not.  

Rep Stansbury: And finally, Mr. Shapley, have you ever been indicted of a crime? Lied to investigators while under oath or run from the law?  

Mr. Shapley: No, I have not.  

Rep Stansbury: And Mr. Ziegler, same question to you. Have you ever been indicted, lied to investigators or run from the law?  

Mr. Ziegler: I have not.  

Rep Stansbury: Thank you for answering those questions. Obviously, it would seem strange to have to ask these clarifying questions. But given the majority's track record in calling witnesses on this matter, not to mention their own presidential candidate, it seemed necessary to clarify for our American folks who are listening today. So let's get into the kinds of crimes that the majority claims that they're interested in investigating here in the Oversight Committee, namely political influence, abuse of power, and other alleged crimes, by a president, and their relations. And again, because our time is limited, like I'd like to ask our witnesses to stick with very simple, straightforward, yes and no answers. Now, Mr. Ziegler, you are aware that Mr. Jared Kushner received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi government after working for his father in law at the White House. Correct?  

Mr. Ziegler: Congressman, I thank you for the question. I'm here to talk about the Hunter Biden investigation.  

Rep Stansbury: It is a widely known fact and I appreciate your response. Mr. Zeigler, you are aware that while serving as a senior adviser to her father, Ivanka Trump had a number of trademarks fast tracked by the Chinese government, correct?  

Mr. Ziegler: Again, I have to I have to stick to the confines of my transcript.  

Rep Stansbury: I appreciate that. And finally, I want to remind everyone, that the person who appointed US Attorney General David Wiese to handle the matter that we're here to discuss today was Donald Trump. But this would be the same President, Donald Trump, the man twice impeached for abuses of power and of course, recently indicted for 37 counts of criminal activity. Now, one would think that here in the Oversight Committee, we would want to investigate such blatant acts of criminal activity. And I truly could not agree more with our witness Mr. Shapley, that there should not be a two tiered system of justice for those who are powerful and those who are wealthy and those who are not. But that is not actually what this hearing is about here today, because it's clear that this is yet another attempt by the majority to turn this committee into another in kind donation to the Trump campaign.  

Now, this follows on an earlier attempt this past month, to undermine the FBI with a controversial markup, which thankfully did not occur the very same day that Donald Trump was indicted under those 37 counts. In fact, if you look across the aisle, we have 13 members who have already endorsed Donald Trump. And now here we are trying to distract the American people once more, even though it was a political appointee appointed by Donald Trump, who was at the helm of this effort when the issues we are discussing today occurred. And yet we're using the committee's resources to advance this agenda.  

But I think it's important that the American people actually understand that the real criminal and the actual threat to our democratic institutions is Donald Trump. The man found legally liable for sexual abuse. The man who refused to return classified documents to the government. The man who was inciting an insurrection that led to the deaths of five people and threatened the lives of people in this very room and to threaten the very foundation of our democracy. So I find it hard to believe that members who witnessed the insurrection, who have witnessed these criminal indictments, continue to stand here today with Donald Trump and prop him up using committee resources. And I urge my colleagues to take a hard look in the mirror and to really reflect on what our oath of office means. And with that, I yield back.

###