As Democrats turn their attention intently to their new presidential nominee, House Republicans have joined in, launching a series of investigations into Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in recent weeks.
House Republicans, who have spent much of the past three and a half years investigating President Biden, are now refocusing their congressional attacks on Harris’ limited role in immigration and border policy and Walz’s ties to China.
The realignment of messaging extends to terminology as well.
In the weeks since Biden gave up on reelection, some Republican committee members have made noticeable changes to the language of their press releases and letters, adding “-Harris” to many documents that previously criticized only the “Biden Administration.”
The House Judiciary Committee has referred to the “Biden-Harris Administration” in press releases more times in the past month than it has since President Biden took office.
There are other, more blatant efforts.
In a move to counter the messaging of support for Harris at the Democratic National Convention, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) held a press conference last week to criticize Vice President Harris. New Inspector General Report About the challenges Immigration and Customs Enforcement faced in tracking court dates for unaccompanied migrant children.
The report did not mention Harris at all, but in keeping with Republican strategy to place most of the blame for the border crisis on her, the focus was almost entirely on her.
“Vice President Harris was in charge of the border when UAC was in charge of the border. [unaccompanied minor] “These initial decisions were made as the disaster began, and they were primarily her responsibility and were made under her watch,” Johnson said on the conference call.
Republicans have called Harris a “border czar” and tried to pin the overall border situation on her, but her role on the border has been more limited, focusing on tackling the root causes of migration. Efforts to stem migration from the south have been accompanied by heavy investments in development and democracy building across Latin America, among other places.
Republicans have also devoted investigative resources to their criticism.
In another effort to highlight Harris’ involvement on the border, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has little involvement in responding to immigration issues, to request documents and communications related to Harris’ work on immigration issues.
Comer did not request documents from the two agencies most closely involved in the Root Causes Strategy: the State Department and USAID, whose websites reference numerous resources about the strategy, but CBP’s website does not have a single mention of the program.
“It is unclear what actions Vice President Harris has taken to resolve the border crisis,” Comer said in the letter to CBP.
The sudden shift in focus to Harris has not gone unnoticed by House Democrats, who see it as part of a broader pattern of using the House’s investigative powers to help former President Trump.
“Across Congress, Chairman Comer’s approach has been simple: block any investigation into Donald Trump and use his committee gavel to conduct sham investigations of Trump’s political opponents,” a Democratic spokesman for the House Oversight Committee said in a statement.
“Rather than working with House Democrats to pass a bipartisan bill for border security or working to investigate Trump for accepting millions of dollars from the Chinese government while he was commander in chief, President Trump is once again trying to use the Oversight Committee to bolster Donald Trump’s failing campaign.”
The shift to Harris coincides with the faltering years of investigations into Biden, which focused primarily on alleged ties to his family’s overseas business dealings.
House Republicans released their long-awaited impeachment report just before the Democratic National Convention, which is highly critical of Biden but doesn’t establish any direct financial ties or recommend moving forward with articles of impeachment.
That drew a mixed response from Republicans on Capitol Hill, many of whom have long been skeptical of impeachable conduct and want to move on from the Biden investigation.
Some say with Biden no longer the nominee, the party needs to turn its attention to its new primary opponent, Harris.
“There is still much work to be done to assess how much Kamala Harris and other administration officials knew, when they knew, and what role they played in covering up for an empty seat at the Oval Office,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote on the social platform X when the report was released Monday morning.
Ms Harris isn’t the only one under scrutiny: Lawmakers are also focusing on Mr Walz’s ties to China.
The former educator taught in China for a year in 1989 and has since led field trips to the country dozens of times.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Waltz When he traveled to China while serving in the National Guard, he complied with international travel reporting requirements to obtain a security clearance.
Comer also wrote to the FBI asking it to acknowledge whether it ever provided Waltz with a defensive briefing, a practice in which the FBI informs politicians and others whether they may be targets of Chinese intelligence or influence activities. Comer also asked the FBI to turn over information on more than a dozen Chinese entities, including ones with which it is unclear whether Waltz had contact.
A spokesman for the Harris-Waltz campaign said in a statement that the governor “stood up against the Chinese Communist Party.” [Chinese Communist Party]”I have fought for human rights and democracy, and have always put American jobs and manufacturing first,” he said, accusing Republicans of “distorting basic facts.”
Waltz is also a critic of China, has met with the Dalai Lama and Hong Kong democracy activists, and is co-sponsor of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the House of Representatives.
Still, Comer, while acknowledging at the press conference that there is no evidence of financial ties, suggested Waltz’s ties to China could be even more concerning than Biden’s family ties.
“Unlike the relationships we uncovered with the Biden family, where China was making payments to Joe Biden’s family, in the case of Waltz, it doesn’t appear that any payments of any kind were made,” Comer said. He spoke on Fox Business on friday.
Comer added that Republicans are concerned that “Tim Walz is obsessed with China and its communist system and what China has done over the last 30 years. If that’s the case, that should be a concern for all Americans.”
