As Republicans gear up to take control of the House and begin establishing their priorities, activist nonprofits and liberal organizations have already begun their mission of playing defense for the Biden administration.
The New York Times reported this week that nonprofits with ties to Democrats have already begun a “counteroffensive against congressional investigations.”
One such group, Facts First USA, has already dedicated a “$5 million-a-year SWAT team” to counter congressional Republicans on issues that “may be too personal or delicate for the White House to be [seen responding to].” David Brock, the founder of Media Matters for America, has now taken the helm of Facts First, and “intends to work with the White House” on issues where appropriate. Another group, Congressional Integrity Project, announced a “multimillion-dollar war room” intent on undermining investigations from the House. Meanwhile, the political arm of the Center for American Progress, an influential progressive think tank, is planning to blast the new investigations as “politically motivated revenge politics,” according to chief executive Patrick Gaspard who previously served as President Obama’s White House political director.
While “dark money” groups begin sowing the seeds of rascality, the Biden White House has seemingly given these groups leeway to act as the administration’s proxy “attack dogs.” The White House has declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Republicans are moving ahead on making use of their new majority.
On Thursday, incoming Republican leader of the House Oversight Committee Representative James Comer (R-KY) announced his committee will evaluate “the status of Joe Biden’s relationship with his family’s foreign partners and whether he is a President who is compromised or swayed by foreign dollars and influence.” This investigation is likely to look into the Biden family’s business dealings with foreign entities, which first drew attention after the 2018 publication of Peter Schwezer’s book Secret Empires. Several of Hunter Biden’s “suspicious activity reports” have left looming uncertainty on Capitol Hill for two years, and with Republicans retaking control of the House, they now have subpoena power as they probe questionable Biden family dealings.
The White House itself has been preparing for this moment. They have built up a new team of lawyers and communications staff, including one veteran prosecutor, Richard “Dick” Sauber, who previously represented Susan Rice during the 2012 Benghazi investigation and Mary Schapiro during the 2011 Republican investigation into weaponization of the Securities and Exchange Commission under her watch. Hunter Biden is expected to receive assistance during the new investigation from Joshua A. Levy, who previously represented the opposition research organization Fusion GPS during Republicans’ 2018 congressional investigations.
In regards to other potential targets, an administration official told the New York Times that “additional personnel would be added to handle the inquiries in the White House and the agencies under Republican scrutiny,” which included the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and State. It remains to be seen how cooperative the administration will be with new information requests, but the actions so far seem to point towards standoffs over the horizon.
As oversight becomes the biggest issue of the divided 118th Congress, Republicans and Democrats should expect greater pushback from nontraditional outside sources seeking to hinder progress.
