House votes to formalize Republican impeachment inquiry into Biden
Republicans voted to formalize the ongoing impeachment investigation into whether President Joe Biden was involved with or profited from his son Hunter’s shady business.
The party-line 221-212 vote clears the way for the GOP to obtain more evidence about schemes in which the Biden family received millions from countries such as China, Ukraine and Romania.
And now the Bidens will subpoena more of their bank records, mortgage records, emails, text messages and cell phones, and anything else Congress wants to see.
Since early 2023, Republicans have been investigating Joe Biden for his alleged ties to his son Hunter’s hugely lucrative multimillion-dollar influence trading scheme, spanning decades.
Following the formal impeachment vote, Republicans say the White House can no longer block them from providing requested documents and testimony. But top GOP leaders say that’s not necessary.
“You don’t need a full vote of the House to conduct an impeachment inquiry, to conduct the investigation that we are constitutionally obligated to do,” GOP Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told DailyMail.com before the vote.
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to fully authorize Biden’s impeachment inquiry, bracing for a bitter legal battle with Biden’s team.
It also came on the day Republicans tried to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress when he defied their subpoena.
“But they are not allowing witnesses to testify, the National Archives are hiding thousands of documents,” he said.
And the White House “is not going to recognize and acknowledge these subpoenas without a vote,” Emmer continued.
He said new Speaker Mike Johnson, when confronted with this fact, said, “Well, if we have to go to court anyway to enforce these demands, you might as well remove any objections they have.” Emmer continued.
Speaker Johnson and his team applauded the House for taking “an important step in our investigation” by approving the impeachment inquiry.
“As President Biden continues to obstruct lawful congressional subpoenas, today’s vote of the full House authorizing the investigation puts us in the strongest position to enforce these subpoenas in court,” Johnson, Emmer, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and GOP Chairman Elise Stefanik said in a statement. . in a joint statement.
The vote came just hours after Republicans began proceedings to charge Hunter Biden with contempt of Congress when he ignored their subpoena.
Republicans subpoenaed Hunter along with James Biden, Joe’s brother, to testify last month. And Hunter was scheduled to appear Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. for a scheduled closed-door testimony.
But the president’s son gave a dramatic five-minute speech on Capitol Hill, defending his father and explaining how he battled a crack addiction while criticizing Republicans for taking advantage of his situation.
Hunter then drove the Escalade out of the room where he was to testify behind closed doors, violating the terms of the subpoena.
The National Archives turned over tens of thousands of documents to House Republicans.
The Justice Department, FBI, IRS and National Archives provided nine witnesses to discuss ongoing investigations, and the Treasury Department provided 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports.
The oversight committee also received and reviewed more than 37,000 pages of bank records and hours of whistleblower testimony.
But Republicans insist there is more to see.
For example, they are demanding more information about 82,000 emails sent by Joe Biden under a pseudonym, relating to both official and family business.
They are also seeking more information about Hunter’s taxes for 2014 and 2015 – special prosecutor David Weiss acknowledged that the statute of limitations had expired due to Hunter’s failure to pay taxes on $1 million in income from Burisma.
“So now you have indictments on nine counts last week, none of those from 2014, the 15 that were… this is a really important year in terms of respect for the vice presidency.”
Republicans are looking into the extent to which Joe Biden was involved in his son’s overseas business dealings. They point to Biden pressuring Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma and whom he accused of corruption.
Republicans are looking into the extent to which Joe Biden was involved in his son’s overseas business dealings.
They also cite testimony from Hunter’s colleague Devon Archer, who said Joe Biden contacted Hunter’s business associates about 20 times over 10 years, either by phone or over dinner.
Hunter Biden gave an emotional five-minute address to the press in which he admitted: “In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances.”
But, he said, “(Republicans) took the light of my father’s love for me and presented it as darkness.” Hunter said his father was never involved in any of his business ventures.
“My father had no financial involvement in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a member of the board of directors of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments domestically and abroad, and certainly not as an artist. ‘