‘The public won’t pay any attention’: Biden downplays House GOP investigation into Hunter, saying he believes the classified documents at his home are ‘things from 1974’ and ‘stray papers’ after sitting in Union state
- President Joe Biden downplayed the impact of the GOP investigation into son Hunter and brother James on his presidency
- “The public won’t pay any attention to it. They want these guys to do something,” Biden said. “It won’t go very far”
- The President sat down for a wide-ranging post-State-of-the-Union interview with PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff
- “I haven’t made my decision yet, that’s my intention, but I haven’t made that decision firmly yet,” he said of his re-election in 2024
President Joe Biden said Wednesday he doesn’t think the House GOP’s investigation into his son Hunter and brother James’ foreign dealings would affect his presidency.
“The public won’t pay any attention to it. They want these guys to do something,” Biden said. ‘It won’t go very far.’
The president sat down for a wide-ranging post-State-of-the-Union interview with PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff, which included admitting he hadn’t made a final decision to run in 2024.
“I haven’t made my decision yet, that’s my intention, but I haven’t made that decision firmly yet,” he said.
A hiccup is House Oversight Chair James Comer’s promise to deal with “peddling the influence of the Biden family,” which often refers to deals with China and Ukraine in the same breath as classified documents kept in Biden’s old office were found in DC and his home in Wilmington.
“They informed me not to speak on this subject in order to interfere with the ongoing investigation anyway,” Biden replied when asked about the Woodruff document debacle.
Biden said he voluntarily invited investigators to search his documents.
“As far as I know, the things they picked up were things from 1974, stray newspapers. Maybe there’s something else I don’t know,’ he continued.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday he doesn’t think the House GOP’s investigation into his son Hunter and brother James’ foreign dealings would affect his presidency
However, he admitted that “what didn’t go well” was packing up his office when he left the vice presidential post.
“They did not do the kind of work that should be done in thoroughly going through every piece of literature that was available,” the president said.
Woodruff kicked off the interview — which was conducted after Biden spoke at a union training facility in Madison, Wisconsin — by capturing some of the jeers he received during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.
“Of the people who did it, I was,” he said when asked if he expected to be called a “liar” by some members of the House GOP, most notably Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene become.
“The vast majority of Republicans weren’t like that,” he continued. “But there is still a significant element of what I call the ‘MAGA Republicans’ — the Make America Great Again Republicans.”
He added that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “was gracious.”
Referring to his decades as a US Senator, Biden also noted, “I always feel comfortable when I’m on the top of the hill. Really.’
“I’ve done it most of my life,” he said. ‘Wasn’t bad at it either.’
House Speaker James Comer promises to investigate the “influence of the Biden family,” which includes Hunter Biden’s (pictured) overseas operations
Secret documents were found at Biden’s home in Wilmington (pictured). He said on Wednesday: “To the best of my knowledge, the things they picked up were things from 1974, stray papers. Maybe there’s something else I don’t know’
Biden also spoke to Woodruff about the state of American politics, noting that it’s gotten awkward.
“It’s gotten too mean, it’s gotten too personal, too divisive – and I think one of the messages they sent at the last election was come on, work together, get something done for us.”
He blamed some of the blame on former President Donald Trump, but did not use his name.
“The last guy made a conscious effort to play on people’s fears and appeal to lower instincts,” Biden said.
“And we’re not. But people are … I also noticed that a fair amount of Republicans stood up last night,” he added, bringing the conversation back to his State of the Union performance, which many Democrats praised.