Biden Impeachment Inquiry:
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday (December 13) authorized an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with every Republican unanimously supporting the politically charged process. However, some in the party remain concerned that the investigation has not yet concluded that the president acted inappropriately as evidence of behavior.
The party-line vote of 221 to 212 means that the entire group of House Republicans has expressed support for impeachment proceedings that could lead to the ultimate punishment for the president (the Biden Impeachment Inquiry): for what the Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanors” if convicted. If convicted in a Senate trial, the president would be removed from office.
Authorizing a months-long investigation would ensure that the impeachment inquiry continues into 2024, when Biden is running for re-election and may face off against former President Donald Trump, who served twice during his time in the White House. Trump has urged his Republican allies in Congress to move quickly to impeach Biden, part of a broader call for retaliation against his political enemies.
The decision (Biden Impeachment Inquiry) to hold the vote comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team face growing pressure to make progress in a nearly year-long investigation surrounding the business dealings of members of the Biden family. While their investigation raised ethical questions, there was no evidence that Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or as a previous vice president.
Ahead of the vote, Johnson called it “the next necessary step” and acknowledged that “many people are frustrated that the process is not moving forward faster.”
In a recent statement, the White House called the entire proceeding a “baseless fishing spree” that Republicans are pushing “even though members of their party have acknowledged that there is no evidence to support the impeachment of President Biden.”
House Democrats came out against the investigation resolution on Wednesday.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said during a debate: “The whole thing is an extreme political stunt. It has no credibility, no legitimacy, and no integrity. .This is just a farce.”
Some House Republicans, especially those from politically divided districts, have been hesitant in recent weeks to take any vote on the Biden Impeachment Inquiry, fearing the huge political costs it would impose. But Republican leaders have said in recent weeks that the resolution is just one step in the process and not a decision to impeach Biden over it. The message seemed to win over the skeptics.
“As we have said many times before, a vote to support an impeachment inquiry does not constitute impeachment,” Rep. Tom Emmer, a member of Republican leadership, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Emmer said Republicans “will continue to pursue the facts, no matter how they unfold, and if they discover evidence of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, then only then will they consider the next steps in the impeachment process.”
Most Republicans who are reluctant to support impeachment are also swayed by the leadership’s recent argument that authorizing the investigation would give them a better legal position as the White House questions the legal and constitutional basis for their requests for information.
A senior White House lawyer described the Republican investigation as fanatical and illegal in a letter to Republican committee leaders last month because the House has yet to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry via a full House vote. Richard Sauber, the president’s special adviser, also wrote that when Trump faced the prospect of impeachment by the Democratic-led House of Representatives in 2019, Johnson said at the time that any investigation without a House vote would be a “sham.””.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, said this week that while there was no evidence to impeach the president, “that was not the purpose of this week’s vote.”
“We have enough political impeachments in this country,” he said. “I don’t like the obstructionism of this administration, but listen, if we don’t have receipts, that should limit what the House can do in the long term.”
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, who has long opposed moving forward with impeachment, said the White House’s questioning of the legitimacy of the investigation without a formal vote prompted him to support moving forward with the process. “I can now defend the investigation,” he told reporters this week. “Let’s see what they find.”
House Democrats remain unanimous in their opposition to the impeachment proceedings, calling them a farce used by Republicans to divert attention from Trump and his legal woes.
“There will be no impeachment proceedings (Biden Impeachment Inquiry) unless there is real evidence of impeachable offenses,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who oversaw the two impeachments of Trump. . “There’s no evidence. None.”
Democrats and the White House have repeatedly argued that the president and his administration have been cooperative with the investigation so far, saying they have provided reams of documents.
Congressional investigators have obtained nearly 40,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records and dozens of hours of testimony from key witnesses, including several senior Justice Department officials currently investigating the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
While Republicans say the focus of their investigation ultimately remains on the president himself, they are particularly interested in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, which they accuse the president of benefiting from. Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation (Biden Impeachment Inquiry) on whistleblower accusations of interference in the Justice Department’s long-running investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and gun use.
Hunter Biden currently faces criminal charges in two states under a special counsel investigation. He was charged in Delaware with being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2018, violating a law prohibiting drug users from possessing guns, and admitted he was battling drug addiction at the time. Special Prosecutor David Weiss filed additional charges last week, alleging that Hunter Biden failed to pay approximately $1.4 million in taxes over a three-year period.
Democrats acknowledge that while the president’s son is not perfect, he is a private citizen who has been held accountable by the justice system.
Biden Impeachment Inquiry: “I mean, there’s a lot of evidence that Hunter Biden did a lot of inappropriate things. He’s been indicted, and he’s going to stand trial,” Nadler said. “There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by the president.”
Hunter Biden arrived outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to make a rare public statement, saying he would not attend scheduled private depositions that morning. The president’s son defended himself against years of Republican attacks and said his father was not financially involved in his business affairs.
His lawyers have proposed allowing Hunter Biden to testify publicly, citing concerns about Republicans manipulating any closed testimony.
Hunter Biden said outside the Capitol, “Republicans don’t want a public process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless investigations, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of?”? I’m right here.”
Republican lawmakers said they would begin contempt of Congress proceedings against Hunter Biden because he did not attend. “He got himself into more trouble today,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters on Wednesday.
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