US House votes for Biden impeachment inquiry
Washington | The House of Representatives voted to open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, pushing ahead with a longstanding Republican investigation that has failed to find any evidence of misconduct by the President.
Republicans, who control the House, said the vote on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) was needed to give them full authority to pursue their probe amid expected legal challenges from the White House.
“What are Republicans afraid of”: Hunter Biden outside the US Capitol building. AP
Mr Biden questioned the priorities of House Republicans in pursuing an inquiry against him and his family. “Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies,” he said.
Authorising the months-long inquiry ensures that the impeachment investigation extends well into 2024, when Mr Biden will be running for re-election and seems likely to be squaring off against former president Donald Trump – who was twice impeached during his time in the White House.
The decision to hold a vote came as House Speaker Mike Johnson and his team faced growing pressure to show progress in what has become a nearly year-long probe centred around the business dealings of Mr Biden’s family members.
The vote came hours after the President’s son, Hunter Biden, defied a congressional subpoena to appear privately for a deposition before Republican investigators who have been digging into his lucrative overseas business dealings.
In a rare public statement outside the Capitol Hill building, Hunter Biden challenged House Republicans to allow him to testify publicly instead of behind closed doors.
“Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say,” he said. “What are they afraid of? I am here.”
Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings are at the heart of the impeachment inquiry against his father.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen,” Hunter Biden said.
House Oversight chairman James Comer and Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan said Hunter Biden’s demands for a public testimony were a “request for special treatment” and have threatened a contempt of Congress action against him if he doesn’t comply.
Mr Jordan said Hunter Biden’s comments that his father was not financially involved in his business was a departure from earlier remarks that there was no involvement at all.
Republicans insist their evidence paints a troubling picture of “influence peddling” in the Biden family’s business dealings, particularly with clients overseas.
Republican Congressman Chip Roy, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said there were some 82,000 emails involving a pseudonym for President Biden and Hunter Biden’s business, yet only 14 of those emails have been made available to the investigation.
Separately, Hunter Biden is facing criminal charges in two states from a special counsel overseeing a long-running investigation.
Special Counsel David Weiss filed new charges and nine new tax counts against Hunter Biden last week, alleging he schemed to avoid paying about $US1.4 million in taxes over a three-year period.
With AP
AP
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