CNN host Phil Mattingly read down a long list of evidence Republicans have racked up against President Joe Biden during an interview with a White House spokesperson Thursday.
Mattingly presented a list pointing to the Biden family and its associates making over $24 million dollars from foreign nationals between 2014 and 2019, the $40,000 check paid to Biden through his son, Hunter’s, business account, and twenty-two examples of the now-president speaking to his son’s foreign business associates.
White House spokesman Ian Sams denied all of the evidence and alleged Republicans are falsely accusing the president of an influence-peddling scheme for solely political purposes. He argued Republicans know there is no basis to investigate Biden’s alleged involvement in an influence-peddling scheme, citing Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley saying there is “no evidence” that Biden was involved with his son’s business dealings.
“You dispute all of those just outright?” Mattingly asked.
“Not only do I dispute those outright, they’ve been debunked time and time again,” Sams said. “Just two days ago, a day before the House held this vote, Republicans in Congress were telling your colleagues in the media that there is no evidentiary basis for them to pursue impeachment, that they’ve seen nothing, they don’t have the grounds for it is what a Republican senator told Politico. So they’re just making up lies to attack the president in a relentless smear campaign that frankly has been going on for four straight years now.”
The House voted Wednesday to formally open an impeachment inquiry into Biden after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an informal impeachment inquiry in September. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the move is a “critical step” in enforcing congressional subpoenas and find the facts. (RELATED: ‘No, No, No’: Comer Spars With Reporter After Hunter Biden Defies Congressional Subpoena)
Sams argued Republicans’ are releasing bank records and financial documents that have no connection to his foreign business dealings. Sams highlighted the the Oversight Committee releasing a document from Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, repaying Biden $1,380 for a car loan in September 2018.
“They act like they get these smoking guns, and they create a ton of attention and energy and they send the siren emojis on Twitter, and it turns out last week one of those payments they were talking about was about a pickup truck. These are the kinds of things that they are making up to attack the president,” Sams continued.
Bank records released by Comer found that Biden received a $40,000 check in September 2017 after the Biden family received money from Chinese business associates. The records show that Hunter Biden, his uncle James and his aunt Sara wired money through several accounts before Sara sent Biden a check as a “loan repayment” less than a month after James Biden’s business relationship with Hudson West III, Hunter’s business venture with CEFC, began.
Mattingly then asked about Hunter Biden defying a congressional subpoena received by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. Sams said the president’s son is a “private person” and that his father is “very proud” of him.
Sams got defensive when the CNN host asked about the younger Biden, saying his father was not “financially involved” in his business dealings. Mattingly said the White House and Biden used to say he never spoke to his son about the Biden family’s business dealings and the administration has now changed it messaging due to testimony and other evidence proving otherwise.
“I actually dispute the whole premise of that question,” Sams said.
“Why?” Mattingly asked.
“It’s one of Jim Jordan’s favorite little shiny objects as to try to take a semantic thing and make an argument that is somehow far field from what they’re actually focused on. We’ve been extremely clear over and over again for years and nothing has changed. The president was not in business with his son, period. They’re trying to make up all sorts of allegations and lie—” Sams said.
“With respect, I’m not citing Jim Jordan up here. I was in some of the White House press briefings where they said explicitly the president did not talk to his son about business dealings. That is very clearly not the case and I think the statement from the White House has changed and I think have been a little more precise over the course of the last several months,” Mattingly argued.
Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, testified before the Oversight Committee that the younger Biden called his father on speakerphone while surrounded by his business associates on over twenty occasions. He also said the now-president dined with his son’s foreign business associates in 2014 and 2015.
WATCH IAN SAMS GET GRILLED BY MORNING JOE: