The Republican-controlled US House of
Representatives voted to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe
Biden based on his son’s controversial international dealings – a move Biden
himself slammed as a “baseless” stunt.
Republicans have yet to provide evidence
of corruption by the President, and the Democratic-led Senate would be unlikely
to convict the US leader even if the inquiry did lead to an actual impeachment
trial.
Regardless, the procedure guarantees
Republicans a new, high-profile platform to attack Biden as he campaigns for
reelection in 2024 – and to distract from the federal criminal trials facing
his almost certain challenger Donald Trump.
The vote of 221 to 212 was along strict
party lines, with every Republican voting for it and every Democrat against.
Conservatives accuse Biden’s troubled
son Hunter of influence-peddling – effectively trading on the family name in
pay-to-play schemes during his business dealings in Ukraine and China.
The allegations against Hunter Biden
refer to incidents that took place before his father became president, and the
White House has stressed there has been no wrongdoing.
Biden himself responded immediately
after the vote, accusing Republicans of stalling on a multitude of key fronts
while obsessing over a desire to score political points against a president
running for re election in 2024.
“Instead of doing anything to help make
Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies,” Biden
said in a lengthy statement.
“As President Biden continues to
stonewall lawful Congressional subpoenas, today’s vote of the full House of
Representatives authorizing the inquiry puts us in the strongest position to
enforce these subpoenas in court,” said House Republican Elise Stefanik a
member of party leadership.
Hunter Biden, whose chaotic personal
life and business dealings have become a magnet for right-wing conspiracy
theories and media investigations, issued an angry statement saying, “My father
was not financially involved in my business.”
A Yale-trained lawyer and
lobbyist-turned-artist whose life has been marred by personal tragedy,
alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction, Hunter Biden was speaking to reporters
from Capitol Hill, after refusing to attend a closed-door hearing led by Republicans
just inside.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James
Comer charged Wednesday that the investigations so far have “revealed how Joe
Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the
Biden name around the world.”
Experts interviewed during the
proceedings, however, said there was no evidence to justify a Biden
impeachment.
And Democrats say the Republicans are
playing pure politics.
“There is zero evidence that President
Biden has engaged in any wrongdoing,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
said Tuesday.
AFP
