House Speaker Kevin McCarthy authorized the House of Representatives to move forward on an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on what Republicans have characterized as “Biden family influence-peddling.”
“I’m directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday. “This is the logical next step that will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public.”
McCarthy said the investigation will be led by House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
The speaker noted that offenses could include abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has obtained bank records that show the Biden family raked in at least $20 million from foreign individuals and entities from Biden’s time as vice president under President Barack Obama.
Much of that came from Hunter Biden’s foreign business operations in China, Ukraine, Romania, and other countries. The committee has found that at least nine members of the Biden family have received payments.
The White House has continually said the president was not aware of, or involved in, the business dealings of his son. The president has said there is a wall of separation between himself and his son’s business.
In July, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, released an FD-1023 form from the FBI showing that a confidential informant told the bureau that an executive with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm, paid a $5 million bribe to Biden while he was vice president to affect U.S. policy to benefit the company.
“Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption,” McCarthy said. “Through our investigations, we know that the president did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s business dealings.”
After McCarthy’s announcement, Ian Sams, senior adviser to the White House counsel’s office, tweeted the House Republicans have “turned up no evidence of wrongdoing” by the president. He also criticized McCarthy for not first holding a vote by the full House to authorize an impeachment inquiry.
In August, Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer testified behind closed doors to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that Joe Biden attended dinners with Hunter Biden’s business associates.
The oversight panel also discovered that while serving as vice president, Biden used pseudonyms in emails and communicated with the business partners of his son.
An impeachment inquiry is only an investigation that would potentially give the House additional legal leverage in obtaining documents and witness testimony.
If the House were to impeach Biden, he would be the fourth president in U.S. history after Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump to be impeached. No president was ever removed by the required two-thirds vote in the Senate. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment during the Watergate scandal.
“I do not make this decision lightly,” McCarthy said. “Regardless of party or who you voted for, these facts should concern all Americans.”
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