(Casey Harper, The Center Square) The Republican-led House Oversight Committee announced its first impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is scheduled for Sept. 28, next Thursday.
The impeachment inquiry committee will have power to subpoena records and communications to dig up evidence and will likely be a thorn in Biden’s side heading into the 2024 election year.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last week directed three House committees to lead the inquiry, pointing to evidence that the president’s son Hunter and his associates allegedly received millions of dollars from foreign entities and that the president knew about it.
Biden’s supporters immediately pushed back, arguing there was no evidence for the inquiry. McCarthy responded, saying the inquiry is to find the facts and that there is plenty of evidence. He pointed to about 150 U.S. Treasury Department suspicious activities reports filed by the agency around Hunter Biden’s dealings as well as bank records and testimony from IRS whistleblowers who said the Biden family and associates received around $20 million from entities in adversarial nations.
“The Treasury Department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by U.S. banks,” McCarthy said in his announcement.
“Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family,” he added. “Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.”
Biden has repeatedly dismissed questions about his involvement in any kind of overseas payment scheme. He brushed aside the impeachment inquiry, but his campaign released a more aggressive statement in response.
“As Donald Trump ramped up his demands for a baseless impeachment inquiry, Kevin McCarthy cemented his role as the Trump campaign’s super-surrogate by turning the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign,” Ammar Moussa, spokesperson Biden’s presidential campaign, said in a statement.
“…McCarthy unequivocally said he would not move forward with an impeachment inquiry without holding a vote on the House floor,” he added. “What has changed since then?”
He went on to claim that Republicans themselves were in disagreement over the impeachment, while appearing to mischaracterize the nature of that disagreement. Some have said that the evidence to impeach does not yet exist, while others are confident it has already revealed itself.
Nonetheless, the purpose of the investigative inquiry is to force agencies that have been stonewalling the Oversight Committee and others to provide the necessary materials with the full force of the law behind them.
The impeachment inquiry will be led by House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., as well as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of the Judiciary Committee as well as Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., who leads the Ways and Means Committee.
