Issues of the Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, this week House Republicans will pass a resolution condemning the actions of New Mexico Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, a former Member of this body.

Late on a Friday night earlier this month, the Governor took action to suspend open carry and concealed firearms in her State. Yeah, you heard that right. She claimed so-called emergency powers to combat a public health crisis, she said, and on a whim, she attempted to restrict the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding New Mexico resident, the citizens of her State, the citizens of this country.

Her action, of course, was overtly unconstitutional. It is functionally useless, and it will only divide Americans further. Someone with elementary-level knowledge of the Constitution would, of course, know this. Fortunately, New Mexico residents and law enforcement openly defied her order, and it was panned by lawmakers across the country, even some of our Democratic colleagues in this body.

Mr. Speaker, here is the interesting thing I wanted to note today: It is ironic that Attorney General Merrick Garland was here on the Hill and has been in the Judiciary Committee in an oversight hearing for the last several hours. He is America's top law enforcement officer in charge, of course, of our top law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice. One would think that this type of issue, this event in New Mexico, regardless of the politics, that that is something the DOJ might intervene in, but they haven't.

Now, by principle, of course, we are conservatives, and we believe in less Federal Government intervention. The less the Federal Government is involved in State affairs, the better overall. But this is not the case. In this situation, the issue here is the DOJ's selective application of justice and its clear targeting of red States for passing laws that its duly elected Representatives voted for.

Think about these few examples.

In 2021, the DOJ sued the State of Georgia for passing election integrity reform. That suit failed, and Georgia had record voter turnout just a year later.

Months later, the DOJ sued the State of Texas over laws--your State, Mr. Speaker--passed to protect unborn children. The Supreme Court refused to intervene, and statistics show that abortions in Texas have plummeted, thankfully, as a result.

Earlier this year, the DOJ sued the State of Tennessee for a ban on child sex change procedures. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the suit, and now it is State law.

The DOJ, Attorney General Garland in particular, has displayed a penchant for filing public lawsuits against red States for passing conservative policy through their democratically elected legislature. They do so with weak charges, based on unconstitutional arguments on cases they know they cannot win, but that is not the point. They have politicized the DOJ.

Here is the big question. Given those examples and the trend of this Department of Justice, why hasn't Merrick Garland hosted a press conference or announced a Federal lawsuit into the State of New Mexico for arbitrarily suspending the constitutional rights of its citizens?

I will tell you why. It is no secret. It is because New Mexico's action serves the Biden administration's stated political goals.

The DOJ will sue red States for passing conservative policy, while turning a blind eye to Democrat Governors who unilaterally curtail constitutional rights. They will put grandmothers behind bars for protesting abortion but refuse to prosecute violent offenders who actually attack the pro-life pregnancy centers. They will prosecute President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents, but they give President Biden a complete pass for even worse infractions.

When we say the DOJ has been weaponized, this is exactly what we are talking about, and this is what the American people see.

Mr. Speaker, today the House Judiciary Committee, as I mentioned, asked Attorney General Garland about these questions and many more. Right now, 65 percent of the American people have no faith in the Department of Justice. It is because of his leadership. He has eroded the rule of law. He has destroyed public trust in an essential American institution.

I used my time this morning, I was the first questioner on our side in Judiciary, and I asked the Attorney General about the DOJ's Hunter Biden investigation. This is a big question on the minds of my constituents and most of ours around the country.

I asked him plainly:

Have you had personal contact with anyone at FBI headquarters about the Hunter Biden investigation?''

His answer was, I don't recollect the answer to that question.

Really?

Okay. Let me get this straight, I told him, the Attorney General of the United States cannot remember if he discussed an FBI investigation into the son of the sitting President of the United States? That is your testimony under oath?

Yes, it is, he said.

It is extraordinary.

Mr. Speaker, frankly, we didn't expect full transparency today from this Attorney General. He and his top DOJ lieutenants have shown us, they have demonstrated over and over that they hold no regard for the rule of law and really are just acting as political hatchet men protecting their boss, President Biden.

The Attorney General was clearly unwilling or unable to provide the essential answers that we needed today. We will continue to press for them. That is our job. That is our constitutional duty on Judiciary to provide oversight over the DOJ.

Mr. Speaker, we have a great lineup of Members here to speak this afternoon on some very important topics to the country.

I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Johnson for his leadership. Mr. Johnson is focused. He is an individual who is bringing this whole body forward, and I look forward to working with him continually on these issues.

There is a saying, we all know it, the truth shall set you free. The accusations made against the Bidens more than require an investigation. These accusations have painted a picture of corruption, bribery, and shameful behavior unbecoming of our executive branch.

Let's talk about them a little bit.

Bank records obtained by the Oversight Committee reveal almost $20 million in payments directed to Biden's associates and family.

These aren't Republican talking points. These aren't Jeff Van Drew talking points. This is the reality of what we have already found.

Over 150 transactions involving the Bidens have been flagged as ``suspicious activity.'' That is not only by the banks, but also the Treasury Department.

President Biden himself participated in phone calls with his son, Hunter--it is a fact--effectively acting as the merchandise that was being sold by his son, Hunter, who was the salesman. They closed deals, and we want to know what they are about: calls that led to the funneling of millions of dollars to Hunter and other Biden family members and Hunter's associates.

The list goes on and on and on. I am only touching the surface. This is more than enough to garner the extra powers granted from an impeachment inquiry. Our goal is to get to the truth.

As I said in the beginning of this conversation, the truth shall set you free. If there is nothing for them to worry about, they should welcome an impeachment inquiry. They should welcome producing the records, and they should welcome producing the statements. It is just the truth that we want.

We have a mission, a duty, and a responsibility. Our duty is to restore the American people's faith in our institutions. Our mission is to reaffirm that no one person, no one group is ever above the law in the United States of America.

This inquiry will move forward, with full transparency and steadfast resolve. If there is nothing here to hide, there is nothing here to worry about. If the allegations are confirmed, there will be, and needs to be justice.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend. He is exactly right. We had no choice but to proceed to the impeachment inquiry phase because that is where the evidence has led us, as you noted. We have a responsibility. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution says very clearly that a President shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. We have credible allegations of a number of those infractions. Bribery is one of them. High crimes and misdemeanors are another. We have mounds of evidence now stacking up to support those allegations, so we do not have a choice under the Constitution but to proceed accordingly, and that is what we will do. We will do our constitutional duty.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. That was well said.

If time permitted today, I am sure we would have every Republican in the Conference come to the floor and speak to the same issue because it is so outrageous that we have this trampling upon some of our most fundamental freedoms; the Second Amendment, of course, being among them.

Van Duyne).

Ms. VAN DUYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the Biden family business of selling out America.

Here is just a sliver of what we know:

The Biden family and associates received nearly $20 million in payments funneled through shell companies. They were paid by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Lord knows who else.

Joe Biden lied about his family receiving over $1 million in payments from China through an associate.

Hunter put Joe on the phone at least 20 times in business meetings with foreign nationals.

Hunter Biden's business associates visited the White House at least 80 times while Joe Biden was Vice President.

There were more than 150 bank transactions involving the Biden family that U.S. banks flagged as suspicious.

Not only was Joe Biden involved with Hunter's clients and flying Hunter around the world on Air Force Two to generate more business, but it is also apparent that Joe was using his office as Vice President to manipulate U.S. policy. We see that with Ukraine, Burisma, in the firing of the prosecutor.

Unraveling the mountain of Biden's lies, his shell companies, and Joe's actions as Vice President is part of what we will be investigating in these hearings, in the impeachment inquiry.

If you are going to sell out America, this is what it looks like.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend; that was well said.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, very well said by the gentleman.

Look, let's hasten to say we take no pleasure in this. There are a lot of big challenges that the country needs to fix. We don't want to spend time and resources investigating the President, impeaching a President.

Next to declaring war, this is the heaviest power that we have in the House of Representatives, but Article I of the Constitution does give us the ``sole power of impeachment'' here.

We have no choice in the matter. Given the evidence, given the allegations, we have to pursue it, and we will. We are often asked: Why is the House majority, why are the House Republicans spending so much time investigating? If we had not done these investigations, we wouldn't have all of this evidence.

Why?

It goes back to the theme of what I was saying earlier: The Department of Justice is simply not doing its job. Under normal circumstances, the DOJ would be investigating all these allegations of corruption but they simply looked the other way.

As I noted earlier, Attorney General Garland, who is just now leaving the Committee on the Judiciary, he has been here all day, has abused the Department to pursue political agendas. He has sued conservative States over their local policies. He has raided the home of President Biden's main political opponent. The Department is obstructing at the same time the Hunter Biden investigation and impeding the House's impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

What are we to do?

I was home on the August district work period. I was doing townhalls in my district in Louisiana, and I will tell you that at every venue, the number one question everybody has is: When will there be accountability?

I mentioned earlier that 65 percent of Americans now have no faith. They don't trust the Department of Justice. We are losing faith in our institutions because the people do not see accountability. They don't see a fair system of justice. They see a two-tiered system of justice.

It is frightening. You cannot maintain a Constitutional republic if the people do not trust the system of justice. They don't believe it is fair. They don't believe that they are going to get a fair shake, that every American, regardless of who they are, is going to have equal justice under law. That is the threat right now. There is nothing more serious than that.

Mr. Speaker, we will pursue the truth, and we will follow it wherever it leads and try to return that accountability to the people.

Mr. Speaker, I end the Special Order hour here, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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