Category: House

GOP releases Devon Archer transcript after lawmakers give conflicting accounts

Posted on (Updated by Mychael Schnell

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) on Thursday released the transcript of a closed-door interview the panel conducted with Devon Archer, the former business associate of Hunter Biden whom Republicans view as a key witness in their investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings.

In the days between the interview and the release of the transcript, House members have offered conflicting interpretations of the testimony, with Republicans arguing it proved that President Biden “lied” when he said he had never spoken to his son about his foreign business dealings, and Democrats claiming the opposite and saying the testimony showed the president was not involved in his son’s business dealings.

Archer sat for a transcribed interview with the Oversight Committee for more than five hours on Monday. The transcript spans 141 pages, and is accompanied by 24 pages of documents discussed during the interview.

“Today, we are releasing the transcript from Devon Archer's interview with our committee,” the House Oversight Committee wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

More coverage from The Hill

Following Archer’s closed-door interview, lawmakers said the witness testified that Hunter Biden sometimes put President Biden, then the vice president, on speakerphone with foreign business partners. Lawmakers also said Archer discussed Hunter Biden selling the “illusion of access” to his father.

Comer on Thursday pointed out several “key exchanges” from Archer’s testimony, including a claim from the Archer that Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company he and Hunter Biden sat on the board of, “would have gone out of business if it didn't have the brand attached to it.”

He also highlighted exchanges about two dinners Joe Biden attended with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates in 2014 and 2015 at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C.

But in another part of his testimony, when asked if he was aware of any wrongdoing by President Biden, Archer responded “no, I’m not aware of any.”

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In a statement on Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Oversight panel, fired back at Comer and reiterated that Archer’s testimony shoots down the idea that President Biden was involved in his son’s business dealings.

“Once again, Committee Republicans’ priority investigation into President Biden has failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden,” Raskin wrote. “On Monday, Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business associate, confirmed in a transcribed interview that President Biden was never involved in Hunter’s business dealings, never profited from such dealings, and never took official action in relation to these business dealings.”

“Mr. Archer repeatedly explained that across a decade-long relationship with Hunter Biden, he was not aware of President Biden ever discussing Hunter Biden’s business.  Instead, Devon Archer described how Hunter Biden sold the ‘illusion’ of access to his father—access he never actually provided,” he added.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks to reporters as he leaves the Capitol following the last vote before a five-week district work period on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

House Republicans for months have been trying to link President Biden to his son’s business dealings. Last month, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) floated launching an impeachment inquiry into Biden, pointing to testimony from IRS whistleblowers that accuse prosecutors of slow-walking the investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax crimes.

Comer released the transcript of Archer’s testimony hours before former President Trump is scheduled to be arraigned in Washington, D.C., after he was indicted on four counts stemming from his efforts to remain in power following the 2020 elections. When news broke of the charges on Tuesday, several Republicans — including McCarthy — said the indictment was an effort to distract from Archer’s testimony and other GOP-led investigations.

“Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump,” McCarthy wrote in a tweet, pointing to claims Republicans have made throughout their investigations and a poll that has Trump well ahead of his GOP primary opponents.

FILE - Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., holds a news conference as the House prepared to leave for its August recess, at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Raskin, meanwhile, argued that Comer released the transcript on Thursday in an effort to distract from Trump’s indictment and upcoming arraignment.

“The transcript released today shows the extent to which Congressional Republicans are willing to distort, twist, and manipulate the facts presented by their own witness just to keep fueling the far-right media’s obsession with fabricating wrongdoing by President Biden in a desperate effort to distract from Donald Trump’s third indictment and the overwhelming evidence of his persistent efforts to undermine American democracy,” he said.

The White House slammed Republicans following Archer’s highly-anticipated transcribed interview earlier this week, claiming that the testimony showed that the president did nothing wrong.

“It appears that the House Republicans’ own much-hyped witness today testified that he never heard of President Biden discussing business with his son or his son’s associates, or doing anything wrong,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement. “House Republicans keep promising bombshell evidence to support their ridiculous attacks against the President, but time after time, they keep failing to produce any. In fact, even their own witnesses appear to be debunking their allegations.”

Updated at 12:42 p.m.

Comer jokes special counsel ‘plagiarized’ notes on Biden but put in Trump’s name

Posted on (Updated by Tara Suter

In an interview on Fox News in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s third indictment, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said he feels like the charges Trump is now facing mirror his committee’s own observations about President Joe Biden.

“I feel like someone broke into our notes on the Oversight Committee and plagiarized them, only they put them down for Donald Trump instead of Joe Biden,” the Kentucky congressman said. 

Comer went on to say Biden has damaged the American “system of government” and is causing a loss of trust in multiple government institutions like the FBI and Department of Justice. He said Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland are using the investigations for their own “self-preservation,”

“That's the ultimate goal for the deep state bureaucracy in Washington D.C.,” Comer said. 

McCarthy accuses DOJ of using Trump indictment to ‘distract’ from Biden probes

Posted on (Updated by Mychael Schnell

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of using the latest indictment against former President Trump — which stems from his efforts to remain in power following the 2020 election — to “distract” from recent information GOP-led committees have gathered about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, McCarthy listed several points Republicans have been hammering in their investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings.

“And just yesterday a new poll showed President Trump is without a doubt Biden’s leading political opponent,” McCarthy continued. “Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.”

While pointing the finger at the DOJ and Biden, McCarthy did not engage with any specific allegations in the Trump indictment, a tactic that has become typical for the Speaker in recent weeks when speaking to the press about charges against Trump.

The office of special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on four charges Tuesday: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

The charges drew immediate criticism and accusations against the DOJ from Trump allies that echoed McCarthy's.

The Speaker, and other Republicans, pointed to former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer saying in closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Monday that Hunter Biden had put his dad on the phone with people he was meeting with, which at times included business partners, at least 20 times over a decade, according to lawmakers in both parties.

A Democratic lawmaker said that the conversations did not involve business discussions and were limited to pleasantries, but Republicans said the testimony conflicted with Biden claiming during the 2020 presidential campaign that he had never spoken to his son about his business dealings. 

McCarthy also pointed to President Biden previously saying that his son Hunter Biden did not make money from China, even though GOP investigations — along with Hunter Biden himself in court — said he did make money from Chinese sources.

And finally, McCarthy pointed to a plea deal that Hunter Biden struck with federal prosecutors on tax charges that would have granted him broad immunity from prosecution, which fell apart in court after a judge questioned its constitutionality and lack of legal precedent.

The indictment against the former president cites a phone call between Trump and McCarthy — then the minority leader — during which Trump “told the Minority Leader that the crowd at the Capitol was more upset about the election than the Minority Leader was.” Left unmentioned in the document is that McCarthy had reportedly yelled expletives back at Trump, saying that the rioters were trying to kill him.

But the indictment does not identify the call as an act “to effect the object of conspiracy,” as it does other statements from Trump on the day of Jan. 6 and leading up to it.

McCarthy’s reaction following Tuesday’s indictment is a stark contrast from remarks he made days after the attack, when he said the president bore responsibility for the actions that day.

“The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said on the House floor on Jan. 13, 2021, as the chamber debated impeaching Trump. He added that Trump “should have immediately denounced the mob.”

Shortly after, however, McCarthy changed his tune, saying that he did not think the former president “provoked” the riot and making a trip to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

McCarthy further underscored his support for Trump in June, backing an effort on Capitol Hill to expunge the former president’s impeachments — including one that was a result of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Democrat Goldman and GOP’s Donalds spar over Devon Archer coverage

Posted on (Updated by Sarah Fortinsky

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman (N.Y.) and Republican Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.) gave conflicting accounts of the closed-door testimony given by Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer and over the news coverage of the testimony.

As conservative lawmakers claim Archer helped bolster their case against the president and his son, Goldman has emerged as a key figure in Democratic efforts to counter the GOP narrative.

“What he testified to yesterday completely absolves Joe Biden of any involvement in Hunter Biden’s business world. And notwithstanding whatever alleged smoke Chairman [James] Comer [R-Ky.] says there is, the witness testimony was very clear that Joe Biden was not involved in any of their business dealings, Joe Biden got no benefit, Joe Biden did not change any of his actions for the benefit of his son in any way, shape or form,” Goldman said in an interview Tuesday on MSNBC.

“Hunter may have, quote, promoted the illusion of influence [of] his father, but the witness was very clear that it was an illusion. There was no actual influence and what the evidence has shown in this entire investigation,” Goldman continued. 

After Donalds posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Tuesday morning complaining that cable news networks were not covering the testimony, Goldman fired back with a clip of his interview, writing, “Hey @byrondonalds, this must have happened before you woke up.” 

“That's cute @danielsgoldman,” Donalds wrote in a post on X. “I noticed that they had you on at the bottom of the hour, and no one is there to give the other side. Typical for @MSNBC. @RepJamesComer or I would had loved to get an invite.”

Goldman shot back, repeating his request for the panel to release the transcript of Archer’s testimony so the public can decide how damning it was.

“I think MSNBC wanted members who were actually present for the entire testimony, @ByronDonalds, and unfortunately I was the only one. In fact, neither you nor @RepJamesComer were there at all, so what value would you add? Unless you have the transcript… #ReleaseTheTranscript,” Goldman wrote on X.

A Republican aide to the House Oversight Committee told The Hill that the committee plans to release the transcript after a review process. The aide said the witness will have the opportunity to review the transcript for corrections before it is released.

Greene, Gaetz renew calls to defund Jack Smith over latest Trump indictment

Posted on (Updated by Mychael Schnell

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) are renewing their calls to defund the office of special counsel Jack Smith, who on Tuesday indicted former President Trump on charges stemming from his efforts to remain in power following the 2020 election.

Trump was charged with four counts Tuesday, capping off days of anticipation that began after the former president disclosed that he received a letter informing him he was a target of the investigation.

Gaetz, a staunch Trump supporter, introduced a bill to prohibit federal funding for Smith’s office shortly after Trump’s announcement, an effort he renewed calls for on Tuesday as news broke of Trump’s indictment.

“DEFUND JACK SMITH'S WITCH HUNT AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP!” Gaetz wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Greene echoed that call Tuesday, writing on X just before the indictment was handed down, “I will not fund Jack Smith’s special counsel.” She also said she would utilize the Holman rule “to defund his office.”

The Holman rule allows lawmakers to propose amendments to appropriations bills that cut the salaries of specific federal workers down to $1, effectively defunding them.

“Jack Smith is a terrible attorney with a lot of failures in his career. Now, he’s abusing his power, the power of the special counsel, and the power of the Department of Injustice,” Greene said in her tweet.

“President Trump is innocent and we must end the witch hunts!” she added.

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), a co-sponsor of Gaetz’s bill, also called attention to the legislation amid news of Trump’s indictment, urging his congressional colleagues to back the measure.

“Another sham indictment from Biden’s Department of Injustice! This is a blatant attempt by the Left to tamper with our elections. I urge my House and Senate colleagues to immediately support @RepMattGaetz’s bill, as I have, to defund this witch hunt,” he wrote on X.

Tuesday’s indictment charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He will make his first court appearance in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

It is his third indictment this year: He was charged in Manhattan earlier this year in relation to an alleged hush money scheme, and in another probe led by Smith that focused on his handling of classified documents. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Democrat calls for footage of Republican’s tirade against pages to be released

Posted on (Updated by Tara Suter

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Tuesday called for the release of security footage of his fellow Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R), who cursed out teenage Senate pages last week.

Pocan wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he wants “greater transparency” around the incident, which occurred early Thursday morning. Pocan also included a letter he wrote asking Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Committee on Administration, for the footage.

According to a transcript obtained by The Hill, Van Orden called the pages resting in the rotunda “jackasses” and “little s----," and he told them they were “defiling the space.”

“If widely shared reports are accurate, Representative Van Orden’s behavior towards the pages was completely unacceptable and further calls into question his fitness for office,” Pocan said in the letter. “It is critical that members of the public, including his constituents in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, know the truth of what happened that evening.”

Van Orden defended his actions in the wake of the incident, saying he thought the pages were disrespecting the space. In a statement to The Hill, he said the rotunda’s history contributed to his reaction. 

“The history of the United States Capitol Rotunda, that during the Civil War it was used as a field hospital and countless Union soldiers died on that floor, and they died because they were fighting the Civil War to end slavery. And I think that place should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect for the dead,” Van Orden said. 

DeSantis backs Biden impeachment inquiry: ‘It stinks to high heavens’ 

Posted on (Updated by Lauren Sforza

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he supports an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, just a week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) floated the idea.

“And the inquiry into Biden, I think that they should pursue that,” he said in a Newsmax interview that aired Tuesday. “The corruption is just incredible with what's happened there.” 

McCarthy said last week that he expects the GOP-led investigations into the foreign business activities of Biden’s family to rise to the level of an impeachment inquiry. His comments prompted pushback from both sides of the aisle, with some Republicans calling a potential inquiry a distraction from other work.  

Republicans have been working to tie President Biden to the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden. Closed-door testimony Monday from former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer added fuel to those allegations, with McCarthy saying it proved President Biden “lied” when he made campaign trail statements that he had never talked to his son about his foreign business dealings.

Democrats, however, said the testimony showed the opposite — that President Biden had never been involved in those business affairs.

DeSantis in the Newsmax interview also pointed to Hunter Biden’s art sales.

“He does these paintings, someone's paying him a million dollars. You know, my six-year-old daughter does better paintings than him — I don't see people paying her a million dollars for them. So, it stinks to high heavens, and they should get answers for all of that,” he said.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee have questioned Hunter Biden’s art sales and have asked for information about an agreement with the White House to keep the buyers of the artworks confidential.

DeSantis also said he wasn't concerned about a government shutdown if it meant cutting government spending. He said spending has gotten to this point because Republicans are “so worried” about a government shutdown.

“First of all, the government doesn't actually shut down,” he said. “They take nonessential workers, and then they don't work. But why do we have nonessential workers to begin with? I think it's ridiculous.”

Gaetz calls DeSantis ‘thirsty’ for inviting Harris to Florida amid curriculum drama 

Posted on (Updated by Lauren Sforza

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “thirsty” for inviting Vice President Harris to their home state to debate over African American history standards approved last month.

“Imagine being desperate enough to be thirsty for a Kamala visit,” Gaetz posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, alongside the letter DeSantis sent to Harris inviting her to Florida.

DeSantis, who is vying to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, sent Harris a letter Monday inviting her to come to Florida to discuss the new rules for teaching Black history in the state. He said that he could meet with Harris as soon as Wednesday, adding that he hopes she is “feeling up to it.”

“In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues,” DeSantis wrote in the letter. “And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice."

"So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards," he added.

Harris has been outspoken about the new rules, which require lessons on race to be taught in an “objective” manner that does not seek to “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.” She said during a trip to Jacksonville, Fla., that the state was “pushing propaganda” onto children over the new standards — which also mandates teachers instruct on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied to their personal benefit.” 

DeSantis has pushed back on her comments, however, accusing Harris of creating a “fake narrative” with her remarks. Harris has stood by her criticism, saying Monday that it was “ridiculous” to have to say slavery had no benefits.

DeSantis has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over the new history standards in the state. He has also come under scrutiny from Black conservatives, including fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C), who said in response to the new guidelines that “there is no silver lining in slavery.”

The Hill has reached out to DeSantis's office for comment.

Cornel West bid prompts worries from progressives: ‘I just wish he wasn’t doing it’

Posted on (Updated by Hanna Trudo

Progressive lawmakers are voicing concerns over Cornel West’s third-party bid, worried that a figure they respect could cripple President Biden’s prospects in 2024.

West launched a Green Party campaign earlier this year to inject more leftism into the election cycle. He’s challenging both the Democratic and Republican establishments, raging against them in equal measure and raising the stakes of being a spoiler in the fall. 

Now, with the Republican nomination of former President Trump seeming more and more plausible, progressives are becoming more outspoken about their worries.

“I think he has a very long record of service and academic thought leadership,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Hill last week. “I think just right now, given the Electoral College, it's very difficult to square the very real threat of a Republican presidency … [with] the risk of giving up the very small margin of electoral votes needed to ensure that President Biden wins.”

Until recently, lawmakers on the left didn’t feel much need to voice any reservations they had about West. When he first announced he was running for president in early June, he did so under the grassroots People’s Party, without much fanfare. Democrats weren’t really applauding him but weren’t criticizing his bid, either; there seemed little cause for concern on Capitol Hill.

The shift happened after West changed his affiliation to the Green Party just a few weeks later. The move promoted bad recollections for Democrats of 2016, when third-party nominee Jill Stein captured enough votes that election analysts said helped contribute to Trump’s edge in certain states. 

The difference now is that West, unlike Stein, is a revered part of the progressive movement who has garnered goodwill from sitting members of Congress for his activism on behalf of working-class people. 

“I care about the quality of your life. I care about whether you have access to a job with a living wage, decent housing, women having control over their bodies, health care for all, de-escalating the destruction of the planet,” West said in his launch video this summer.

Some liberal lawmakers also personally know and like him, having crossed paths with him over the years. He worked as one of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) top surrogates in 2020. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who served as a campaign co-chairman for Sanders, has expressed kind sentiments about him despite publicly supporting Biden this cycle.

Biden has earned overwhelming support from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), and no elected progressive has primaried him. Even Ocasio-Cortez, who has at times been critical of the president’s policy decisions, officially endorsed his reelection bid. And Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the left-leaning CPC, threw her support behind a Biden reelection effort even before he formally announced, despite initially backing Sanders in the Democratic primary last election.

The progressives coalescing around Biden are starting to share their concerns about the damage West’s bid may cause to the president’s reelection effort.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass), a prominent member of the CPC, credited West as a “thoughtful guy.” McGovern has had close proximity to West over the years in Massachusetts, where the philosopher and historian taught at Harvard University. 

But McGovern didn’t mince words about his third-party bid. 

“The stakes are too high this year, especially if Trump is the nominee,” he said. “I think everybody, including the most progressive elements of our country, need to protect our democracy by stopping Donald Trump and supporting Joe Biden.”

McGovern said he was worried about a scenario in which West gained enough traction to help the GOP nominee win again. 

“I worry about those things because Cornel West is a very effective speaker and can be very persuasive,” he said. “I am not here to question his motives or bash him, because I've followed him for many, many years, but I just wish he wasn't doing it.”

Moderate Democrats have been quick to paint West as a potential spoiler running a glorified vanity campaign. They’ve been the most publicly against possible challengers to Biden and third-party bids, including from their own centrist flank No Labels, a group that wants to recruit a credible third-party rival. 

Progressives, on the flip side, are often critical of the country’s two-party system and have been hesitant to outwardly dissuade West or other progressives from competing for the White House. Their wing proudly embraces intraparty primaries and outside bids when necessary to push a progressive agenda. Many believe that’s often better than the status quo, and it’s how several prominent progressive lawmakers rose to power themselves. 

One Squad member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), is personally familiar with the power of insurgent campaigns. She was elected to the House in 2018 after ousting longtime Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano (Mass.) by running on a more liberal platform. 

While Pressley is still a staunch progressive, she’s more measured in her approach to the presidential election. Asked about West’s bid, she tiptoed around the issue but noted the popularity of his ideas.

“The CPC is the largest ideological caucus in Congress, which I think proves that, as the caucus continues to grow, their progressive ideas are popular,” Pressley said. 

“As much as they try to fringe and marginalize them, people want transformational change like universal basic income, like unionization, like reparations,” she said, careful not to criticize the platform that liberal candidates have run on each cycle. 

The anxiety around West is also illustrative of the broader concerns Democrats have about Biden. They understand that his approval rating isn’t where they’d like it to be, and that Trump still has a firm grip on the Republican Party. They also see poll after poll indicating that at least some percentage of voters want someone else as the Democratic nominee. In another sign of the frustrations surrounding Biden, moderate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) has been eyeing a possible primary challenge against him.

Defenders of West’s candidacy, however, feel strongly that it’s important to let voters decide whom they prefer in an open election.

“To progressive lawmakers who prefer to name-call and to label him as a spoiler candidate, please take a moment to remember that votes are always earned and never given,” said Cullen Tiernan, a progressive activist based in New Hampshire who has been critical of the party’s establishment class. “Too many of these lawmakers have changed from, ‘We will push Biden left,’ to now, ‘We will endorse anything he does.’”

“As Dr. West says, ‘You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people,’ and I ask: Who are you serving by trying to eliminate voices from a democratic process?”

Cheyanne M. Daniels contributed.

Did the government confirm aliens exist?

Posted on (Updated by Stephanie Whiteside

(NewsNation) — As in decades past, the question of whether aliens exist continues to captivate Americans. Following Wednesday's widely-watched Congressional hearing on UAPs and UFOs, people flocked to social media — many proclaiming the government confirmed aliens exist.

But that's not actually what happened at the hearing. While witnesses and lawmakers discussed the issue of UFOs, the government has not issued any official confirmation of alien life and what was said at the hearing, by witnesses and even a lawmaker, remains unverified.

As lawmakers continue to probe the issue, join NewsNation's Brian Entin at 9 p.m. ET Sunday night for a two-hour special report on the hearing, including analysis from UFO experts. Find out how to tune in to NewsNation on your local channel lineup.

Here's what we do (and don't) know after the hearing:

  • Whistleblower David Grusch largely recounted second-hand testimony and provided no evidence to support his claims. Grusch is a former member of the UAP Task Force.
  • Former Navy Commander and pilot David Fravor recounted a first-hand experience with the so-called Tic Tac UFO but said he was never briefed on the object or its potential origins.
  • Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who founded the Americans for Safe Aerospace, also recounted an encounter he had with an object he described as a black sphere floating inside a clear cube. Graves indicated such encounters were extremely common among pilots. There was no evidence presented to support this claim.
  • While lawmakers seemed largely accepting of the witness testimony, only Rep. Matt Gaetz, R.-Fla., said he had seen any evidence of alien life firsthand.
  • Grusch was unable to answer a number of inquiries regarding specific evidence or proof in an open setting, though he indicated he would be willing to say more in a secure, classified briefing.
  • All three witnesses agreed these unidentified objects constituted a potential national security threat.
  • Official government bodies, including the White House, Pentagon, and NASA have all stated they have no reason to believe unexplained objects are extraterrestrial in nature.
  • National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said after the hearing there are "no hard and fast" answers to the question but that the administration is taking it seriously.

This wasn't the first time the U.S. government undertook investigations to address the question of UFOs, nor is it the first time the official response was that there was nothing "alien" going on.

However, at the heart of Grusch's whistleblower complaint is his claim that the government, specifically the Department of Defense, is operating programs to retrieve material from crashes that are extraterrestrial in nature and are keeping those programs secret from the public while also operating without appropriate Congressional oversight.

Grusch spoke exclusively to NewsNation regarding his experiences, which he said include the U.S. government recovering the "non-human" pilots of downed craft.

In light of his claims, lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee have vowed to continue to hold more hearings, including classified briefings where Grusch could speak more freely. Members have also vowed to seek the power to subpoena documents and images that Grusch says back up his claims.

Lawmakers have also called for a centralized reporting system for both military and civilian reports of UFOs, to better analyze and understand the possible threat.

There is also the possibility of the creation of a new committee to specifically investigate UAPs/UFOs. It's not entirely clear how Congress could compel the DoD or military to release information on any secret programs, should they exist, though, in the past, lawmakers have attempted to work UFO reporting into funding requirements for the Pentagon.