Washington DC, Dec.14.– The House of Representatives on Wednesday, Dec. 13, formally launched its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The vote was 221-212. All Republicans voted in favor of the inquiry while no Democrats voted for the inquiry outlined in H. Res. 918.
“The facts don’t lie. It’s time to get the American people answers,” House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X before the vote.
Why are House Republicans formalizing Biden’s impeachment inquiry?
Several House Republicans have argued that by formalizing the inquiry, the chairmen of the three committees handling the investigation into Biden’s conduct will gain more power to compel interviews, obtain documents, and further the case that the president improperly benefitted from his son’s overseas deals. This move now allows Republican congressional investigators to collect more information about Biden’s alleged involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
GOP lawmakers have already issued an array of demands to executive branch agencies and the president’s son related to the probe, but argue that the Biden administration and Hunter Biden have so far done nothing but obstruct the investigation.
Earlier this month, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told colleagues that his panel has received just 14 out of about 82,000 pages of Biden’s vice presidential emails known to exist.
Comer also accused the president of repeatedly lying about his contacts with his relatives’ business associates, as well as about his family’s income from China, and said the White House has not complied with requests to interview an array of current and former officials. “Joe Biden has repeatedly lied to the American people about his family’s corrupt influence-peddling schemes. He told the American people he never spoke to his son about his family’s business dealings. He claimed there was an absolute wall between his official government duties as vice president and his family. He said his family never made money from China. All of these are blatant lies,” Comer said in a video posted to X.
“Our investigation has revealed how Joe Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name around the world,” he said, later adding that the panel is meeting resistance; “We’re now at a pivotal moment in our investigation. We will soon depose and interview several members of the Biden family and their associates about these influence-peddling schemes. But we are facing obstruction from the White House,” Comer said.
Hunter Biden defied a House GOP subpoena requiring him to provide investigators with a private deposition on Wednesday, opting instead to hold a press conference outside the US Capitol and demand a public hearing.
The White House has challenged numerous congressional requests, arguing that the full House must “authorize an impeachment inquiry before a committee may utilize compulsory process pursuant to the impeachment power.”
Proponents of formalizing the inquiry say that Wednesday’s floor vote strengthens their legal standing against the White House and will make it easier to secure subpoenas and witness testimony related to the probe.
Congressional investigators have obtained nearly 40,000 pages of bank records through subpoenas and have dozens of hours of testimony from key witnesses, including several high-ranking Justice Department officials currently tasked with looking into Hunter Biden.
Rep. Tom Emmer, a member of the Republican leadership team, said at a news conference Tuesday Republicans “will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, and if they uncover evidence of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors, then and only then will the next steps towards impeachment proceedings be considered.”