With unusual unity, Republicans in the House of Representatives decided on Wednesday to launch an official impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The formal step, which has seemed inevitable since the fall, gives Republicans more power to demand financial information from the Biden family and to subpoena witnesses.
More than an actual attempt to impeach the president, the investigation appears intended to damage Biden in the run-up to next year’s elections. Republicans have been looking for evidence of “abuse of power, obstruction of justice and corruption” by Biden for years. The accusation is that he enriched himself during his vice presidency under Barack Obama with the shady business of his problem son Hunter Biden in Ukraine and China.
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks of an investigation into “the president’s role in furthering his family’s alleged influence schemes” that are said to have “raked in millions of dollars in payments from America’s foreign adversaries.”
No evidence
Hunter Biden has admitted that he benefited from his famous surname in his international affairs, but that his father never played an active role in it, let alone influenced government policy. Despite frantic efforts, Republicans have not been able to dig up facts that link the president to this. However, due to scandals surrounding Hunter and the amount of – permanently fanned – smoke that exists around the family, many American voters suspect that there must also be fire.
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Biden: baseless political stunt
In a written statement, Biden called the impeachment inquiry based on “lies” and a “baseless political stunt.”
His son Hunter showed himself to be more combative. He was summoned to appear before the unofficial impeachment committee on Wednesday, but declined to do so behind closed doors. “Republicans don’t want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless investigations or hear what I have to say.”
Hunter Biden doesn’t just have the Republicans in the House behind him. Last Friday it was leaked that he is being prosecuted for 1.4 million dollars (1.3 million euros) in tax fraud. There is already a case against him for illegally purchasing a firearm while he was addicted to crack.
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