On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives formally authorized its ongoing investigation into President Joe Biden’s impeachment. Republicans are rallying behind this endeavor despite the fact that they have not yet discovered any proof of the Democrat’s misconduct, said Reuters.
Hunter Biden, Biden’s 53-year-old son, was called to speak behind closed doors, but he declined.
Hours later, the younger Biden rejected a demand to appear in private. The Republican-controlled chamber voted 221-212 along party lines to support the inquiry.
The White House has denounced the investigation as unfounded and politically motivated. Biden is planning for a rematch with his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, in the 2024 election.
Trump is the only president in American history to be impeached twice, and he is presently preparing for four criminal prosecutions.
The campaign to remove Biden from office will almost certainly fail. Even if the House votes to impeach the president, a two-thirds vote in the Senate is required to convict him on the charges — a near-impossibility in a body where Biden’s fellow Democrats control a 51-49 majority.
The vote comes three months after Republicans launched an informal investigation, and is not binding regarding the actual removal of anybody from office.
However, it might provide Republicans with greater legal leverage to compel Biden’s administration to comply with its demands for information—albeit as lacking in substance or relevance may it turn out to be–as well as support in countering Democratic charges that it lacks legitimacy.
House Republicans claim Biden and his family benefitted from his actions as President Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009-2017, in particular with respect to his son’s business interests in Ukraine and China during that time.
Earlier in the day, Hunter Biden resisted a committee subpoena to testify behind closed doors, claiming he would only testify in public because he believed his statements would be distorted otherwise.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business, because it did not happen,” the younger Biden retorted.
Certain members of the committee stated that they would attempt to hold him in contempt of Congress, which could possibly result in prison time.