"WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled the House is on a clear course to pursuing an impeachment case against President Biden, citing claims of corruption tied to his son Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings.
"This is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry," McCarthy (R., Calif.) said Monday night on Fox News. "I believe we will follow this all the way to the end, and this is going to rise to an impeachment inquiry the way the Constitution tells us to do this."
In comments to reporters Tuesday, McCarthy emphasized the distinction between launching an inquiry and an actual impeachment vote. "An impeachment inquiry is allowing Congress to get the information," he said.
McCarthy was reacting to developments in Republican probes into Hunter Biden's business dealings in China, Ukraine and other countries, which GOP lawmakers allege also potentially benefited or were tied to President Biden, something the White House has repeatedly denied. Republicans recently released an FBI document that detailed unsubstantiated claims that Ukrainian energy company Burisma hired Hunter Biden at his father's request and was making payments to the Biden family in exchange for political influence.
Democrats say the claims aren't credible and the White House has repeatedly said that the two men were never in business together. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, called the claims "secondhand, years-old allegations."
The White House has maintained that President Biden wasn't involved in Hunter Biden's business affairs. Democrats say Republicans are engaged in baseless speculation in retribution for the two impeachments and criminal prosecutions of former President Donald Trump, currently the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
"Their eagerness to go after [President Biden] regardless of the truth is seemingly bottomless," tweeted White House spokesman Ian Sams. At a briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:"We're not going to get into hypotheticals," when asked about GOP efforts to impeach Biden.
The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating what Republicans portray as the weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI, while the House oversight committee has been focused on the financial dealings of the president and his family.
While some lawmakers including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) cheered the prospect of an impeachment probe, others were more cautious. Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.), who chairs the House GOP's campaign arm, said: "No one is seriously talking about impeachment right now."
The oversight panel plans to bring in Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden's business associates, for a transcribed interview soon, according to a spokesman for the committee.
Last week, two Internal Revenue Service employees described what they said were efforts by the Justice Department to impede the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes. Republicans have accused the Justice Department of giving Hunter Biden lenient treatment by allowing him to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and likely avoid prosecution on a separate gun offense.
The House would need just a simple majority to impeach a president. The matter would then head to the Senate, where a two-thirds supermajority would be needed to remove the president from office." [1]
If Trump links this information to the huge sums of money Biden is giving to Zelensky's regime in Ukraine, the combination will not look good for Biden in the next US presidential election. Everything is reminiscent of primitive post-soviet bribery.
1. U.S. News: McCarthy Signals Inquiry on Impeaching President. Linskey, Annie;
Hanrahan, Tim.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 26 July 2023: A.4.
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