Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene had a private conversation with House Oversight Committee Chair and fellow Republican James Comer during a hearing into President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
Their discussion, the details of which were not immediately clear, came as the committee voted on a motion by Democrats to subpoena the phone of Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden business associate who is a key witness in House Republicans' investigation into the Biden family.
The Context
Republicans have used their narrow House majority to launch investigations, largely focused on whether President Biden benefited from the foreign business dealings of his son, Hunter. Critics of the GOP efforts say the investigations have not turned up substantial evidence to prove President Biden engaged in any wrongdoing.
What We Know
The House Oversight Committee met on Wednesday for its "HEARING on Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden's Abuse of Public Office," the committee wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
During the hearing, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, requested a recorded vote about whether to table his motion to subpoena Bobulinski's phone so the committee could uncover all data related to text messages and photos they believe relevant to the investigation.
Ahead of the vote, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, asked to speak. However, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told her she may only speak to him in a private conversation as the committee was in suspension.
Moments later, Greene, a Georgia Republican, spoke up and was also told she must speak to him directly about any concerns.
Newsweek reached out to Greene's office for comment via email.
Views
Critics questioned on X why Republicans voted against subpoenaing the phone.
"Jim Jordan just hid evidence of text messages they claim prove some kind of Joe Biden corruption by tabling Raskin's motion to subpoena the actual data as opposed to screenshots of phones" wrote @MuellerSheWrote.
"Can't let the evidence get in the way of their lies," wrote businesswoman Lea Black, a frequent critic of Republicans and star of The Real Housewives of Miami.
After Comer moved to table Raskin's motion, the Maryland representative criticized the move.
"What we're doing is we're tabling evidence here, which you keep relying on, so I'm going to ask for a recorded vote for that. That just makes no sense," he said.
What's Next
The majority-Republican committee ultimately voted to table the motion.
Bobulinski told the committee he is "willing to sit in a room with both the chairman and the ranking member with my phone and their staff and we can go through each and every text message."
Update 3/20/24 12:45 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
