Vowing opposite probes widens the rift in Washington

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Republicans are set to take over the US House of Representatives and pledge their own flurry of probes of the president, while US President Joe Biden's administration named a special counsel to oversee investigations of Trump. 

Americans are expected to witness a long battle between the two sides, accusing each other of subverting the justice system for their own political ends.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for instance, said Friday on Twitter that "Joe Biden has completely weaponized the Department of Justice to attack his political opponents." Cruz was responding to Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment of former war crimes prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to lead two ongoing investigations into Trump.

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One is centered on the former President's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as his supporters' January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The other is an inquiry into a collection of secret government records that were seized by the FBI during a raid on Trump's Florida estate Mar-a-Lago in August.

While Trump and part of the right wing of his party denounce what they call a "witch hunt", Democrats are getting prepared to criticize the Republicans the same way. 

Republicans claim they intend to use their majority in the House to launch a number of investigations, the first of which will focus on Hunter, the President's son. They believe he took advantage of his father's position as Barack Obama's Vice President from 2009 to 2017 and his last name to engage in shady business dealings in China and Ukraine.

"There's no plans to subpoena Joe Biden. There are plans to subpoena Hunter Biden," Representative James Comer said Thursday on CNN, outlining his party's strategy.

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This Kentucky lawmaker has emerged as a chief investigator of sorts for the Republicans after the November 8 midterm elections in which they won control of the House, albeit by a slim majority, but failed to take the Senate.

Comer is reportedly in a position to lead the House Oversight Committee, a congressional panel that, among other things, keeps an eye on how the executive branch behaves and has the authority to look into it if necessary. But Comer made clear that not just Hunter Biden but also his father will be investigated. "This needs to be called the Biden investigation and not the Hunter Biden investigation," he said.

Origins of Covid 19 

Comer added that the panel will look into the causes of the coronavirus pandemic and the possible involvement of a lab in Wuhan, China. Many Republicans have gnawed on this issue for years.

Republicans revealed plans to investigate the Biden administration's handling of incoming migration across the US border with Mexico.

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Democrats claim Hunter Biden did nothing wrong, but Comer assured that the investigation will not turn into a political circus. "This isn't a dog-and-pony show. This isn't a committee where everybody's gonna scream and be outraged and try to make the witnesses look like fools," Comer said in an interview on November 8 for Politico.

Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, one of the most outspoken members of the far right, has declared her desire to join the oversight committee and has made remarks that have been criticized as outrageous and racist.

Democrats are preparing a counteroffensive.

Congressional Integrity Project

According to Politico, the Congressional Integrity Project was founded by party members and is intended solely to respond to Republican congressional investigations.

The idea is to "investigate the investigators, expose their political motivations and the monied special interests supporting their work," the founder of the project, Kyle Herrig, a lawyer and activist, told Politico.

The main goal of the Republicans, Herrig said, is not to seek the truth but rather "to smear Joe Biden and do the political bidding of Trump."