On Friday, House Oversight Chairman James Comer revealed that the Committee has found evidence that Joe Biden has received direct compensation for alleged "shady influence peddling of his name" by the Biden family "and their access to him."

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

We have found a $200,000 DIRECT payment to Joe Biden.
@RepJamesComer lays out the money trail. 👇 pic.twitter.com/0vq3lqhRHz

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023

On Wednesday, Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty and accept a plea deal for a felony gun possession charge and two misdemeanor tax crimes. However, the deal fell through when Delaware U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika expressed concerns about the scope of the agreement. National Review reported:

Noreika described the deal struck with U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as “unusual” and questioned why the deal contained some “non-standard terms,” such as “broad immunity” from other potential charges.

As more information comes to light, the Biden family's problems continue to grow. Over the last week, House Oversight Republicans posted communications that point to the involvement of President Joe Biden in his family's shady business dealings.

Investigators wanted to get the location data to confirm Joe Biden was in the room when Hunter used him as leverage but there is no confidence the FBI obtained that data. pic.twitter.com/gEMIOVGYyl

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 23, 2023

Earlier this week, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan issued a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding allegations that the Bureau "sought to use local religious organizations as 'new avenues for tripwire and source development.'"

🚨 #BREAKING: We now know the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 employee, sought to use local religious organizations as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” pic.twitter.com/97veIGtvq4

— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) April 10, 2023

On Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Congressman Mike Johnson announced an investigation by House Republicans into the bombshell discovery that President Biden mishandled documents retained from his time as Vice President.

#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMikeJohnson launch first investigation into @JoeBiden’s classified documents scandal. pic.twitter.com/sR8E5J2ZTd

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) January 13, 2023

Two separate groups of Republican senators had eventful visits to the southern border this week, providing a stark contrast to President Biden's visit over the weekend. As we noted earlier this week, the Biden visit was short and provided a sanitized look at the issues facing border states.

https://t.co/Y13ThKxQ3Z

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 10, 2023

On Sunday, President Biden finally visited the U.S.-Mexico Border after two years in office. Ironically, one highlight of President Biden's trip was a photo-op in front of the border wall erected by the Trump Administration to deter illegal border crossings from Mexico—the very same border wall that he and other Democrats pledged to cease building. In recent weeks, both Democrats and Republicans have criticized President Biden for the border crisis created by his administration. 

Biden got his photo-op by the border wall. The same wall his party stopped construction on.

— Sen. James Lankford (@SenatorLankford) January 9, 2023

As is always the case, the media obsession with President Trump will never end. This time it is a bit different, in that both the left and the right agree on a part of Trump’s legacy in their year-end round-up stories.  Democrats and Republicans in the media agree that President Trump, combined with a Republican Senate led by Mitch McConnell, remade the Judiciary. 

From the left, Professor Noah Feldman does the typical frothing at the month unhinged liberal attack on conservative judges, President Trump, and Republicans in the Senate.  But putting aside the irrational hatred and mischaracterization, Feldman states something surprising:

2022 turned out to be the most consequential year of Donald Trump’s presidency. This year, the Supreme Court proved that its hard-right turn will be the most enduring legacy of his sorry four years in office.

Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments — the most by any president since Herbert Hoover, thanks to Mitch McConnell holding Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat open for Justice Neil Gorsuch — have launched a conservative judicial revolution that has only begun to repeal many of the major constitutional advances of the last 50-plus years. The new conservative majority is issuing decisions geared at restoring a nostalgic, never-was version of constitutional history, in place of long-established precedent. (Emphasis added.)

Senator Orrin Hatch passed away Saturday.  He was a true leader and a great friend to the Republican National Lawyers Association. He spoke to RNLA more than any other elected politician and was very close to one of our founders, Betty Southard Murphy. As the left tries to lionize him for being some bipartisan figure from a bygone age, we should remember what a strong Republican Senator Hatch always was. As his former staffer, Tom Jipping, stated: Senator Hatch was “a real compassionate conservative.”  

But that compassion should not be mistaken for weakness. The Wall Street Journal had it right when it editorialized:  

The press is eulogizing former Senator Orrin Hatch for his civility and bipartisan deal-making with Democrat Ted Kennedy. He certainly was a gracious man who represented a more civil era in politics. But we’ll remember the longest-serving Republican Senator, who died Saturday at age 88, for the moments he bucked Beltway convention and took unfair abuse for it.

The first was his stalwart defense of Clarence Thomas against the accusations by Anita Hill in 1991. Ms. Hill’s claims have achieved totemic status on the political left. But they arrived only at the last minute, midwifed by Democratic operatives, and lacked substantiation. On the Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch subjected the claims to proper scrutiny. He helped confirm Justice Thomas, who has been a credit to the High Court and country.

On Monday, the Biden Administration announced its latest gun grab. The National Review's David Harsanyi writes:

Crime is rising, so it’s time for Democrats to take aim at law-abiding gun owners. In a press conference today, President Joe Biden promised swift action, announcing a series of unilateral moves that will have virtually no effect on rising criminality. Among them is regulating so-called “ghost guns,” which Biden claims “are the weapons of choice for many criminals.” And by “many,” he means “incredibly few.” Biden also promised to fight for “universal” background checks and “assault-weapons” bans, two other policies that would do almost nothing to lower the crime rate and everything to do with making life more difficult for peaceful gun owners.