Many political experts are predicting huge gains for the Republican Party in the November midterm elections.
In a possible signal of his concern, President Joe Biden is beefing up his legal team.
According to The New York Times, the Democrat and his White House counsel, Dana Remus, have hired attorney Richard A. Sauber in order to “[lay] the groundwork to defend against an expected onslaught of oversight investigations by congressional Republicans.”
The Times report Saturday described Sauber as “a longtime white-collar defense lawyer” who currently serves as the top lawyer for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The move could signal Biden is anticipating investigations or even impeachment inquiries should Republicans take the House of Representatives, the Senate or both in November.
The president already had been getting his ducks in a row in the lead-up to the midterms, according to the Times. He had been meeting with Remus and his personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, “for months to work out potential divisions of labor between White House lawyers and outside counsel,” the report said.
Biden wants to avoid any situation “that could inadvertently undermine executive and attorney-client privilege,” the outlet said.
In other words, he wants to keep his personal lawyers separate from the lawyers funded by tax-paying Americans for legal reasons.
Since Democrats have controlled both chambers of Congress during Biden’s presidency thus far, they have generally avoided opening investigations into Biden and his administration.
Will Biden face legal consequences after November?
If Republicans take control of Congress, they could open investigations in a number of areas.
One of the most hotly contested issues has been the administration’s response to COVID-19, led by White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci. In addition to holding him accountable for allegedly lying to Congress, Republicans have said they want to question him about vaccine mandates that had horrible consequences for many Americans.
“I want to talk about the dead Americans, people who had myocarditis, people who had a reaction to the vaccine,” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy told Fox News in March.
“I want to talk about the Americans who have lost their job because of vaccine mandates, whether they are military or health care workers, or maybe a Border Patrol agent, federal worker, who have been forced to lose their job if they didn’t take a jab,” Roy said.
“I want to talk about the children who can’t actually enunciate their words because they now need speech therapy, or they had mental health issues, or we’ve got drug addicts, people who have died because they’ve had mental health issues.
“I can go down the list after list. When are we going to have accountability for Anthony Fauci?”
Fauci is not the only potential problem for the Biden administration. Republicans could push an investigation into whether the president was involved with son Hunter Biden’s questionable business deals.
A Delaware grand jury is investigating Hunter Biden’s personal finances, but Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, explained the need for further inquiries.
“[D]espite the daily deluge of new information from Hunter’s laptop, there are still many unanswered questions,” Stefanik wrote in a May 6 opinion article for the New York Post.
“This is why there must be a thorough Congressional investigation into the Biden crime family as a matter of national security.”
Meanwhile, other House Republicans have sought to impeach Biden over his handling of the border, his surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan and other issues.
While it remains to be seen whether Biden or his administration will face legal consequences, there appears to be little question that Republicans will investigate him if and when they gain power.
