>> "washington journa"

continues. host: washington times national politics corresponded susan ferrechio with those ahead of eight press conference scheduled to begin in 30 minutes with republicans and house oversight committee. we know the topic of the press conference will be an update on investigation into the biden family influence peddling. what else have you been able to find out about what chairman, will talk about today? guest: this of concern bank records the committee has been looking at it for weeks now. they obtained them from the treasury department and they are coming through these bank records and finding in their view suspicious activity by biden family members involving taking a lot of money from foreign entities and shuffling the money around into various companies. ensuring that biden family

members got a piece of the pie. i think the main element of this press conference is going to be around whether or not they have evidence that this involves president biden back when he was either vice president before he became president and whether or not this is influence peddling, and involves public corruption, exchange of money or official actions that president biden took or promise to take. i think that is the central part of this investigation and today we're going to find out whether the oversight committee has the so-called smoking gun connecting all of this to president biden. many people are waiting on the edge of their seats here to see if they are able to prove this. they have been hinting at it and saying publicly they think it is influencing peddling but

we have not seen direct evidence of it. information that has come out has been vague in details of bank records. some that has come out -- at least one bank release records. it showed a lot of money changing hands between a foreign entities and the president's son and his business associates as well as the president's brother. nothing indicating that the president or then vice president was involved in any of this. he has denied any involvement or knowledge of all of this. he is also said his son hunter biden has done nothing wrong. today is all about hearing what they have gathered so far from these bank records and will probably get insight into where they are going to go from here. i doubt this is investigation -- this investigation is over. we get more information about that as well.

host: the press conference set to begin in 25 minutes and we're going to air it on c-span.org. you can go over and watch it and i hope you come back afterwards for the rest of the "washington journal." for folks trying to keep track, you mentioned hunter biden. this press conference comes as we await an announcement from justice department concerning their investigation of hunter biden. what is a investigation about? are these two things crossing at all? guest: hunter biden, the son of the president, under investigation for tax crimes. and if filling out a gun form with false statements. maybe something else in terms of his foreign business dealings but mostly centers on not

reporting income to the irs. there has been no word on what has been happening with the investigation. it has been going on for years. whistleblower servers in rs to say there was pedicle ferret going on shooting hunter biden from -- a whistleblower surface in the rs to say there was political favoritism going on shooting hunter biden -- shielding hunter biden. people suspect he will get a slap on the risk because the president signed or this thing could drive on even longer. it is been a long time and this is all blown together. for house republicans they want the charge against hunter biden to be postponed because they want them to have a look at what

they are digging up to see if there are other crimes he can be charged with. they do not want them to end investigation now with minor charges involving tax crimes, they want them to look at the evidence they feel they are producing through their own investigation of bank records. that's were you see the disagreement between two entities. you want to see what house republicans say they come up with in their investigation and the ongoing probe by the justice department, independent probe, the president's son, hunter biden. host: susan ferrechio other washington times with us. phone lines as usual. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002.

to help preview this press conference for viewers, some names they might hear. can you explain who these folks are? james biden and eric sharon . guest: james biden as the president's younger brother who has been a very close to the president throughout his life. he raised money in campaign early in the year he has also been involved throughout his life and profited from his connection with his brother. there's is plenty of evidence of that and interviews and he estimated as such the fact that he is job by his brother has helped him when lucrative positions and contracts has helped him throughout his career. that is not a big secret there. he also worked with hunter

biden, the two of them together made money off of these chinese energy companies. also -- [inaudible] he has been peddling his brother's name throughout his own career. there is a whole host of other business associates who republicans are investigating. eric schwerin was a close family friend and financial advisor to the biden family. he was a business partner of hunter biden and he is the only business associate in this group who is willing to cooperate with republican investigators. i'm not sure he set for a transcribed interview or provided documents but he had agreed to cooperate. there are several others that are not cooperating at this point. ralph walker, another business

associate, and devon archer, who has his own legal problems involving defrauding native american tribe. he's facing jail time on that. they're not getting a lot of cooperation. eric schwerin could be an important witness. he was involved in the business deals and made quite a bit of money on them himself and was close to the biden family. host: let me bring in callers. this is jody, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead. caller: i wonder information about what is going on with the biden family is going to come out on all of the cable

networks. is there going to be a spin on the left? if evidence coming out on the right? host: you are reading of the media coverage of hunter biden i somebody who has been on this investigation -- i somebody who has been on this is the -- investigation. guest: republicans complaint media is ignoring the story. it is not getting the attention i believe will be if president trump and his family. that is not to say the media has not written rail reported and extensive stories about the biden family and their business deals and how it is complicated president by this term -- biden term. it is just about the intensity of coverage and the headlines.

you see downplaying. this is not really the big deal that james comer is trying to make it out to be. if you look at other coverage where there is an outlining of business deals and you see that in connection with the vice president and it is something that looks like you need to be investigated here. people making a lot of money peddling his name and in many cases saying he is making promises that he would do things on their behalf. these things were happening according to court documents and other evidence. it does not get the kind of coverage, sensational coverage, it would get if it were president trump.

there's no question about that. if you think about the whistleblower who came forward watching the first impeachment trial if talked about the president was asking for something from ukraine president to investigate his political opponent in exchange for military aid. that is pretty significant. now you're looking at the possibility that president biden was connected to promises made on behalf of foreign entities, many of them are enemies, like china and russia, in exchange of something. that is what republicans say was happening. they need to be able to show us the details but if that is the case in they are to make that case that deserves full coverage, no matter how you align yourself politically, because the public has a right to understand what is going on behind the scenes when our president is dictating foreign

policy. what is going on in the background with his family and their finances. host: 15 minutes left with susan ferrechio other washington times. this is john in germantown, maryland. good morning. caller: hi. i was watching the debate where joe biden had lied about the laptop. it was concerning. i later saw him on television and him saying in public he had the guy fired. he said a son of a bitch, i had him fire because he was going to get a billion dollars of the

aid, the ukrainians. they're not going to get it unless his son, the company he just started working for, unless that company got favorable treatment by firing this guy. host: unpack that a little bit. guest: that is true. he did say that. i think the connection was not a firmly established was that he did it because his son was working -- being paid by the board, and energy company based in ukraine. without that exact connection and there are other reasons why this prosecutor was considered corrupt and needed to be pushed out and that was one of the reasons joe biden game at the time. you make a good point. in the scrutiny of joe biden, there's always this assumption of innocence. that he did not do anything wrong.

he could not have been involved in corruption at any time but we need to look hard at this. i think that is true. i think in terms of media coverage there's definitely bias in that direction. people were naturally suspicious of trump from the get-go. he was not a government guy. he came from business. he was a billionaire. he came into the oval office and people scrutinize him like he was going to be a carotid person from the get-go -- a corrupt person from the get go. people do not look as hard as they would if it were trump or another republican president. i agree with that. host: this press conference on the -- by the house oversight

committee set to happen at not -- 9:00 a.m. eastern this morning. until then taking your phone calls with susan ferrechio other washington times. peter in new york. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have followed your career for a long time. you are very honest and i appreciate that you are on today. i would like you to talk about tony blinken who was on joe biden's election staff. the fact that he called up mike morel who is the former director of the cia in order to accumulate almost 51 former intelligence people to sign this letter stating that the hunter biden laptop, which the fbi had

since november of 2019, was a phony russian plant. joe biden purposely saying they used that letter in order to defend hunter biden and pretend that it was not real. they purposely lied about it. i believe tony blinken should step down because he should not be secretary of state if he pulled this dirty trick. unfortunately, the deep state has been protecting the biden family for years now. there is no reason that this investigation and to hunter biden should go on for five years. host: let you jump in. guest: the committee is releasing a report about this letter signed by 51 intelligence officials who said they believe the laptop and information on it

wasn't disclosed ahead of the 2020 election but that -- was disclosed ahead of the 2020 election but that was russian disinformation. it was very influential. we have learned through mike morel who says antony blinken was involved in this letter. he has denied this as recent as a week ago. he said he had nothing to do with spearheading the letter. republicans are investigating the genesis of this letter. part of what they are leasing this morning is connecting -- releasing this morning is connected the signers and got the letter going to the biden campaign showing they were in talks with the biden campaign about the letter and it was all about protecting the biden campaign and assuring the president, then candidate, was

not damaged by this. i think this is what they are trying to shout with the report they're releasing on their investigation of the letter -- show today with report there releasing on their investigation of the letter. it looks like he did not earn big political favor. host: 65 page report before this interview this morning. for viewers who want to see the report to the judiciary committee, it is available at judiciary. house.gov. here is the front page. hunter biden statement how senior intelligence officials in biden campaign work to mislead american voters interim joint staff report from the committee on the judiciary. there is a press site on the

judiciary committee site. you can watch the press conference on c-span.org. this is patty from new jersey. independent. caller: good morning. i do not know the reporter personally but i know the washington examiner is extremely bias. host: susan ferrechio's with the washington times. national politics correspondent. what is your question for her? caller: i want to make a comment that hunter biden has been investigated for five years. i recall president trump was impeached for trying to get information that was false. this whole thing is about a tax charge.

i think it is pathetic that the republicans are going after the president, one surviving son. i thought that was awful. my question for you is it so important to investigate hunter biden and his business dealings? why isn't anyone investigating the trump children influence peddling? early in trump's term, jared kushner sister was in china selling condominiums with a promise of lunch with the president. if that is not influence peddling, i do not know what is. also, ivanka trump with herb patton she was in -- with the patent when she was working for the president. the tip of the iceberg is saudi arabia $2 billion for jared

trump him for scrounging around for whatever money they could get . guest: the house oversight committee are asking for information about the two billion dollar investment. he's also willing to look into this. i do know the trump kids got scrutiny for exactly what the caller is talking about in congress and in the media. i think with james comer said about today's press conference where going to hear as it is not about the biden family. there is nothing illegal about james or hunter biden or anybody saying -- profiting off the fact that they are related to the vice president, at the time, or the president of the united states, that is not illegal. the issue is whether there is public corruption. whether or not anything was

promise in exchange for their action on behalf of these foreign entities, who are china, russia, ukraine. that is what the focus is going to be. whether or not it can be connected to the president. that has public corruption whether it is something exchange for a promise made or official action taken. that is different from saying -- i dislike the robbing door in washington. members of congress -- it is like the revolving door in washington. the focus today is trying to show that president biden himself was involved in -- and there is public corruption here. we have not seen the smoking gun on that. have to see what he comes up with in a few minutes. host: david in ohio. republicans. caller: i have been conservative

my entire life. i think the past caller is right. i did not think my other republican friends understand is that when i talked to my friends on the left they do not care. if there is corruption, hunter biden did something wrong, throat him in jail. -- throw him in jail. they do not worship their leaders. what about harlan crow who has been buying our supreme court justices? it is on both sides across-the-board. host: susan ferrechio we are running short on time. final minute before we let you watch the press conference. guest: i think he's effecting a lot of frustration by the public. they see the politician and money they make from their offices when they leave office,

lucrative book bills, contracts, they make a lot of money. the higher up you are the more you make when you leave. the public's onto this and they see it. it has been a part of our government forever. i think today's press conference you're going to see a lot more detail about the inner workings of this kind of think. host: available at the c-span.org and the free c-span mobile video app. i imagine you will have a write up on this? guest: yes, we will be covering it. host: susan ferrechio >> c-span is unfiltered view of government and funded by these television companies and more. including