Biden impeachment inquiry strikes ahead following GOP House vote
House Republicans voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, claiming he profited from his household’s overseas business offers.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans formally approved their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Wednesday, taking their most vital step towards impeaching the president.
The House voted alongside celebration strains by a vote of 221-212 to inexperienced mild the inquiry.
Republicans have alleged the president financially benefited from his household’s overseas business dealings, although they have not publicly launched proof backing up the claims.
The votes comes after House Republicans accused the White House of stonewalling their investigation. Authorizing the inquiry, they are saying, may bolster their authorized standing if their requests for info make it to courtroom.
The White House says it has cooperated absolutely with the investigation and offered loads of proof disputing House Republicans’ allegations.
The impeachment inquiry “only proves how divorced from reality this sham investigation is,” mentioned Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP investigators main the inquiry say it is merely an investigation, and House Republicans haven’t predetermined whether or not to draft articles of impeachment in opposition to the president.
“To fulfill our constitutional responsibility, we have to take the next step. We’re not making a political decision, it’s not. It’s a legal decision,” Johnson mentioned at a weekly press convention on Tuesday. “We can’t prejudge the outcome. The Constitution does not permit us to do so. We have to follow the truth where it takes us.”
But House Democrats have questioned the aim of the investigation, on condition that Republicans have but to show up proof immediately tying Biden to his household’s business dealings.
“What is the crime that Joe Biden is being accused of? They don’t have it,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., mentioned. Raskin is the highest Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which is considered one of three committees tasked with main the investigation into Biden.
The vote to authorize Republicans’ inquiry got here the identical day the president’s son, Hunter Biden was scheduled to testify in a Capitol Hill deposition behind closed doorways.
But Hunter Biden defied the subpoena, as an alternative delivering impassioned remarks at a press convention early Wednesday morning. He defended his father and accused GOP investigators of weaponizing his substance use dysfunction to attack the president.
“In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless,” Hunter Biden mentioned. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was involved in my business because it did not happen.”
Hunter Biden has demanded to testify in a public listening to, quite than behind closed doorways. But the GOP investigators main the probe are asking Hunter Biden to testify in a deposition first, claiming that Democrats would disrupt public proceedings. The House Oversight Committee has mentioned it is going to begin proceedings to carry Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress.
“We have specific questions for the president’s son. He does not get to dictate the terms of this subpoena,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., mentioned.
Months in the past, an impeachment inquiry appeared prefer it was a troublesome promote for reasonable and vulnerable House Republicans, most of them hailing from the 17 districts Biden received within the 2020 election.
That lack of assist was partially what led then–House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to open the probe in September with no formal vote. The California Republican criticized Democrats in 2019 for doing the identical and vowed to have the approval of the decrease chamber earlier than opening the Biden impeachment inquiry.
But even these vulnerable Republicans now agree that the White House has been uncooperative and assume authorizing the probe will permit them to additional examine.
“We have enough information and testimony and evidence right now to continue the process of the inquiry,” mentioned Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., a Biden-district GOP member.
Voters react to the impeachment push
Reactions to the impeachment inquiry amongst voters throughout the nation had been combined.
Jackson Reffitt, a 21-year-old meals service employee in Dallas, Texas, instructed USA TODAY as a Democratic voter, he’s pleased to see politicians get audited.
“It’s hard to think of something more important when it comes to pressuring people in power, is to really make sure that, you know, things are in order,” mentioned Reffitt. “And as someone who voted for Biden, if he did something bad, throw it, do whatever you need to, it’s as simple as that. I don’t think there needs to be any debate about it.”
He added, “If he did something, go for it. They need to crack down on it because once you get lenient then you get loose.”
Scott Bailey, a 64-year-old restoration business proprietor in Charlotte, North Carolina, instructed USA TODAY lawmakers ought to have held the vote to authorize the inquiry sooner.
“I don’t know why it’s taking this long. I’m just frustrated that no one has started sooner. It’s very frustrating,” he mentioned.
But some voters balked at lawmakers spending their time on the impeachment investigation. Erik Peterson, a 47-year-old center faculty particular schooling instructor in Eureka, California, mentioned he thinks the vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry is “political theater.”
“From my understanding, it’s pretty unfounded,” Peterson, a Democrat, mentioned. “I think it’s retaliatory for the impeachment inquiries when Trump was president.”
