It's official now. Or more official. Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for years, in case his business could impact the president of the United States, Joe Biden. Since they assumed control of the House of Representatives last January, the offensive has intensified. Then, in March, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered a formal investigation into impeachment. Now, the plenary session has approved the same, but giving the investigation greater formality and more legitimacy to make requests and subpoenas. What remains to be seen are solid indications that the president has benefited from his family's businesses, much less that he has committed any crime or illegal act.
The plenary vote took place after a bitter debate between representatives of the two parties. Democrats have accused their rivals of trying to cover up their failure to pass measures since they took over the House majority nearly a year ago. Republicans have continued to air their suspicions against the Bidens. “This is all an extreme political maneuver. It has no credibility, legitimacy or integrity. It's a spectacle,” said Democratic Representative Jim McGovern during the debate in the chamber, in a statement reported by AP.
The resolution approved by the plenary session orders to “instruct certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations” into “whether there are sufficient grounds for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to subject a impeachment to Joseph Biden, president of the United States of America, and for other purposes,” according to the text. In its articles, it confers on the commissions the power to make subpoenas, requests, interrogations and hearings.
The Republicans have closed ranks, even making it clear that it is not yet the impeachment or political process to the president himself, but from a prior investigation. The resolution was approved with 221 Republican votes in favor and 212 Democrats against.
The White House immediately responded to the House vote with a statement in which Joe Biden denounces the Republicans' inaction to approve aid to Ukraine and Israel or take other relevant domestic policy measures. “I wake up every day focused on the problems facing the American people, real problems that affect their lives and the strength and security of our country and the world. Unfortunately, the Republicans in the House of Representatives are not with me,” says the president.
“Instead of doing something to help improve the lives of Americans, they focus on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts. The American people deserve better,” adds Biden, who recalls how Republicans have lost weeks due to the chaos of McCarthy's impeachment and replacement as speaker and they have also been involved in the expulsion of Congressman George Santos for corruption and lies.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
In the morning, before the session, Hunter Biden appeared outside the Capitol. He was summoned to testify before commissions seeking a connection between his business and his father, but the president's son has refused to testify behind closed doors and has offered to participate in a public hearing, something that Republicans reject. .
Hunter Biden has been blunt: “My father did not participate financially in my businesses, neither as a practicing lawyer, nor as a member of the board of directors of Burisma [una empresa energética ucrania]”, nor in my association with a Chinese private businessman, nor in my investments in the country or abroad, and much less as an artist,” he said. “In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that this is grounds for an investigation of impeachment It goes beyond absurd and is shameless. “There is no evidence to support the accusations that my father was financially involved in my business, because that did not happen,” he added.
In September, McCarthy did not dare to submit the investigation to the plenary session because he believed that moderate Republicans, elected in competitive districts, would turn their backs on him, since they saw no reason for such a step. Now, the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has managed to get congressmen from his party to close ranks under pressure from Donald Trump.
The former president wants at all costs a impeachment against Biden, partly as revenge for the two political trials he had to undergo as president and partly as a way to counteract the trials in which he is accused, with the November 5, 2025 elections on the horizon. The Republicans' strategy is to extend the investigation against Biden until close to the elections.
In a recent statement, the White House called the entire process a “baseless fishing expedition” that Republicans are continuing “even though members of their own party have admitted that there is no evidence to support President Biden's impeachment.”
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 investigating Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden is charged with three crimes in Delaware for the illegal purchase and possession of a gun when he was addicted to drugs and another nine in California for tax fraud, after a plea deal to which he was willing to admit was derailed. minor crimes that would not have led to his imprisonment. But what has not been found is a connection between the current president and those alleged crimes of his son.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
#House #Representatives #formalizes #impeachment #investigation #Biden