House Republicans prepare to start Biden investigations

GEOFF BENNETT: As part of the new Congress, tomorrow, House Republicans will start scrutinizing nearly every policy step taken by the Biden White House and congressional Democrats over the past two years.

Lisa Desjardins joins us now with more on what to expect tomorrow and down the road.

So, Lisa, House Republicans have mentioned a number of topics that they say are ripe for investigation.

Help us understand where they intend to start and where this whole thing heads.

LISA DESJARDINS: All right, let's roll up our sleeves.

There's a lot to talk about here.

When you think about the investigations that House Republicans are launching, I think about them in three very big baskets.

Let's take a look at the committees that are especially going to be key here.

First, there is a new Select Committee on China.

Important to note, this has wide bipartisan backing.

It is focused on China and the Communist Party there, the economy and also human rights among the things they're looking at.

Different are the two other committees you see here right next to me, the House Oversight Committee.

These committees are looking at the Biden administration, as you talked about.

Look at that list.

These are all of the different things already announced by that House Oversight Committee, things they will look at, the classified documents, the Biden family influence.

That includes Hunter Biden and also Joe Biden's brothers, whether they have connections outside of this country that have been problems.

The pandemic, there's a subcommittee there.

The border, energy, drug prices, and also overall Afghanistan and the withdrawal there.

Expect a lot of news to come out of that committee, certainly a lot of hearings.

Then there is a second one, the House Judiciary Committee.

That is led by Jim Jordan, the Republican from Ohio.

They are also going to look at classified documents, but especially the role of different agencies, including the Department of Justice.

Border security will be one of their first hearings next week.

And here's a special subcommittee that we will be paying attention to, the Weaponization Subcommittee.

I think that will focus a lot on the Department of Justice and the FBI and, in fact, investigating the investigators, but not only that.

There will be some look at sort of how government agencies take on individual Americans, Republicans say.

All of this is just kind of the beginning.

We don't know exactly what shape these will take.

But the theme here is, for those two big committees, looking at the Biden administration and the Biden family.

GEOFF BENNETT: So those are the topics.

Tell us more about the approach that these committees might take.

LISA DESJARDINS: So important.

Those two chairmen are very different kind of chairman in their approaches.

First, let's talk about James Comer on House Oversight.

He is a more affable kind of chairman.

He's gotten along with his ranking and fellow Democratic chairmen in the past.

And he's someone who says he's going to take this slow.

I have spoken to him at length about his approach here.

He does not want to start out of the gate with sort of big, kind of throwing punches at the Biden administration.

He says he wants to gather evidence.

And, in fact, in the past, he has also criticized the Trump administration.

Different from him, you see in style, Jim Jordan.

These two men do get along, but very different.

Jim Jordan is a former champion wrestler.

He is someone who likes to throw punches.

He believes that pugilistic style is something that can uncover truth and it's something he loves to do.

His committee will be something where we see much more contention.

And already we have seen that he is telling the Biden administration, signaling to them that he's ready to issue subpoenas pretty quickly.

Here's a press release they put out just in the last couple of weeks.

There it is signaling the right there that he will take them on, giving them notice about documents requests that are out there.

So, both of these committees, different in style, are still trying to go after the same thing.

Republicans say there was not enough of a check on the Biden administration.

Democrats, however, are nervous, and they say that Judiciary Committee in particular is something that they want to watch for their own strategy.

Some Democrats said they were nervous about even sitting on that committee with Representative Jordan.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, Lisa, there's news today regarding to members of Congress who may not have committee seats at all.

Tell us about that.

LISA DESJARDINS: As Amna reported, Representative George Santos and I was told by sources in the room has said he will not serve on committees.

He said that's at least temporary.

Now, that is in fact connected to the other member that we're talking about, Democrat Ilhan Omar.

She is someone that Speaker McCarthy has said he would like to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But he needs nearly all of his conference to agree on that.

He does not have enough votes to remove her.

This is for past statements she's made about Israel, which some Jewish groups have said were antisemitic.

She has apologized for those, but there are questions from some about her stance toward Israel.

He doesn't have the votes to remove her right now.

We're going to be watching that carefully.

GEOFF BENNETT: And lastly, Lisa, there has been a renewed focus on police reform following the police killing of Tyre Nichols.

What are the prospects in Congress right now for that?

LISA DESJARDINS: There is huge interest in doing this.

There are behind-the-scenes conversations.

Geoff, I have to say, this is the critical timeline, State of the Union.

We expect to see Tyre Nichols' mother at that speech next week.

I'm told by people, Republicans and Democrats, that that is the critical timeline.

If there can be movement on this issue, it will be up to that speech.

And they're hoping to try and get some sign of advance by then.

Can they get there?

We don't know.

GEOFF BENNETT: State of the Union on February 7.

Lisa Desjardins, great to see you.

Thanks for that reporting.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.