A Republican official quickly deleted a social media post celebrating Hunter Biden's agreement to testify publicly.
The disappearance of the post followed Rep. James Comer (R-KY) lashing out at Biden's offer to testify to the House Oversight and Reform Committee — but only if the hearing was held in public.
It prompted Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) to kill his online comment quickly — but not before The Messenger's Stephen Neukam caught it.
Smith, who sits with Comer on Oversight, posted: "I welcome Hunter Biden finally agreeing to testify. It's long overdue for him to come clean in front of the American people."
But then he evidently saw Comer's attack on Biden, saying the meeting had to be behind closed doors.
Democrats on the committee have responded with swift attacks on Comer for his pushback to a public meeting. Two weeks ago, he even offered to testify alongside Biden in the hearing.
"Let me get this straight," Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) began in a statement. "After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions they pose?"
"What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it."
He then referenced one hearing this fall, in which Comer claimed to have bombshell information, but then failed to deliver it. After that, Raskin pointed out, Comer hasn't even attended any public hearings.
"Chairman Comer has now apparently decided to avoid all Committee hearings where the public can actually see for itself the logical, rhetorical and factual contortions they have tied themselves up in. The evidence has shown time and again President Biden has committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense. Chairman Comer's insistence that Hunter Biden's interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again. What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth," said Raskin.
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Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) pointed out that Republicans tend to distort what is said behind closed doors.
“If Chairman Comer [refuses] then he is explicitly acknowledging that Hunter Biden's testimony will expose this bogus ‘impeachment inquiry’ for the politically motivated, baseless sham that it is," Goldman said in a full statement.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) agreed: "Refusing to hold a public hearing allows the party in power to construct their own version of the 'truth.' If House Republicans have the 'smoking gun' they claim they have, why are they afraid to show it to the American people? What are they trying to hide?"
"After his first hearing disaster, where his own witness testified there wasn't evidence for impeachment, now Chair Comer is shaking in his boots at Hunter's offer to testify publicly. Why?" asked Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA). "Because he knows his innuendo and conspiracies don't hold up in the light of day."
The House Ways and Means Committee Democrats got behind the attacks as well, posting: "House Republicans want to doctor testimony, selectively leak, and manipulate the facts. More fact-free fallacies behind closed doors, but the American people deserve the truth," with a sunlight emoji.
In September, The Congressional Integrity Project faulted House Oversight Committee chairman Comer for "eight months of abject failure" to prove the president was guilty of wrongdoing related to his son, Hunter Biden, although polls show the effort had convinced 42 percent of Americans that he had acted illegally, reported The Guardian.
See the deleted tweet from Rep. Jason Smith below or at the link here.
