The House of Representatives finally approved the impeachment investigation against Democratic President Joe Biden, who Republicans accuse of benefiting from the shady dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, abroad.
The vote was highly partisan, with 221 Republicans in favor of the investigation and 212 Democrats against.
#BREAKING | The House has passed the Impeachment inquiry resolution #joebiden pic.twitter.com/hL6BqHVsDz
— VOZ (@Voz_US) December 13, 2023
According to Reuters, Democrats and critics of the vote claim that Republicans approved the impeachment inquiry despite "a lack of evidence" that Biden benefited from or participated in Hunter's business dealings. However, legal experts, such as the jurist Jonathan Turley, who participated in the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, defend the approval of the resolution as a necessary step to confirm whether or not there were crimes, given the evidence that Biden did lie to the public about his relationship with his son's businesses and also his business partners during his time as vice president.
The speaker of the majority in the House of Representatives, Republican Tom Emmer, told the New York Post that Republicans were forced to proceed with approving an investigation of impeachment after The White House prevented witnesses from testifying and withheld thousands of documents linked to Biden and his son's business partners, including emails held by the National Archives.
According to Emmer, it was the White House that basically pushed House Republicans to put the resolution to a vote to move forward with their investigations, which have turned up circumstantial evidence that Biden held conversations with Hunter associates on dozens of occasions and also bank records linking the president to his son's businesses.
The White House told Republicans it was "not going to acknowledge or … recognize these subpoenas as valid without a full vote of the House," Emmer told the New York tabloid. "[Speaker] Mike Johnson, when faced with that said, 'All right, well, we're gonna have to go to court to get these enforced anyway, might as well eliminate any objection that they have before we get there.'"
In recent months, whistleblowers from the federal IRS agency told Republicans on the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees that the Justice Department prevented tax investigations against Hunter Biden from impacting his father.
Likewise, Republicans discovered a document from a highly reliable FBI source that said that both Hunter and Joe Biden received bribes of $5 million to influence the internal politics and justice of Ukraine and avoid corruption investigations against the energy company Burisma. IRS whistleblowers claimed that these allegations were not properly investigated for no apparent reason.
"The House just approved the resolution for the formal impeachment inquiry. Both the Democrats and Republicans have started impeachment inquiries without a formal vote, but, as I testified at the first hearing, this is the best practice for such inquiries," said legal expert Turley, who testified months ago that there was sufficient evidence to begin the formal investigation.
The House just approved the resolution for the formal impeachment inquiry. Both the Democrats and Republicans have started impeachment inquiries without a formal vote, but, as I testified at the first hearing, this is the best practice for such inquiries. https://t.co/KK1j4rjA3L
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 13, 2023
The approval of the impeachment occurrs just as Hunter Biden is accused of contempt of Congress after he did not appear to testify before the Oversight Committee.
"As I stated previously, I do not believe that Hunter has a strong case to claim that the subpoena that he ignored today was null and void absent this vote. It was a fully enforceable subpoena of the Oversight Committee. In my view, he stands in flagrant contempt of Congress," said Turley regarding Hunter's decision.
