Liberal Groups’ Attempts to Block House GOP’s Biden Probes May Be Illegal: Conservative Legal Group

The America First Legal Foundation (AFL), a conservative group, has accused two progressive organizations of unlawfully blocking congressional investigations related to President Joe Biden. AFL’s Director of Investigations, Reed Rubinstein, has written a letter to House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland on March 16 calling for an investigation into Congressional Integrity Project, a non-profit backed by Arabella Advisors, and Facts First USA, led by progressive activist David Brock. According to Rubinstein, these groups may be “unlawfully coordinating efforts to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper exercise of the congressional power of inquiry” into the Biden family and administration.

David Brock had issued a confidential memo in October that identified his group Facts First USA as a “SWAT team with additional capacity” to counter “disinformation narratives” ahead of Republican investigations, with the aim of supporting Biden and helping him “stay focused on his preferred messaging during 2023 and 2024 and on his reelection campaign.” Rubinstein cited the memo in his letter and noted that Brock had referred to congressional Republicans as “attackers” and vowed to “ferociously” wage “direct attacks” in coordination with other groups against those investigating Biden and his family members.

Rubinstein accuses the groups of potentially violating the law 18 U.S.C. § 1505, which prohibits corrupt or threatening attempts to influence, obstruct, or impede congressional inquiries or investigations. Although he did not cite any specific behavior from Congressional Integrity Project, Rubinstein listed the group as an affiliate of Brock and Facts First USA that should also be investigated.