On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives voted to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden over allegations of corruption, including influence-peddling and bribery. The move enhances the investigative powers of the House, and makes subpoenas more enforceable.
The House Rules Committee previously approved the resolution on Tuesday. The final vote was 221-212 on party lines, with one Democrat not voting.
U.S. House APPROVES Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden, 221-212. pic.twitter.com/TH6JNpHF8H
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 13, 2023
“Evidence uncovered reveals Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name. Joe Biden is ‘the brand’ that allowed the Bidens to rake in millions from China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement lauding the passage of the resolution authorizing the impeachment inquiry. "Joe Biden has tarnished his positions of public trust by allowing his family to put his power, protection, and influence up for sale. Joe Biden spoke, dined, met, and had coffee with his family’s foreign associates as they were funneling millions to the Bidens. This public corruption cannot be tolerated."
Comer continued, “Instead of providing the American people with answers, President Biden continues to lie about his knowledge and involvement in his family’s business schemes. The White House has even built a war room comprised of two dozen staff to combat our efforts to deliver transparency and accountability to the American people."
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"With today’s House vote authorizing the impeachment inquiry, we are now in better legal standing to fight the White House’s obstruction. Our impeachment inquiry will continue to follow the facts and hold President Biden accountable for his lies, corruption, and obstruction,” Comer concluded.
Democrats had been trying hard to prevent the inquiry, clearly out of concern for what would come of the expanded investigative powers a formal inquiry provides. The House Oversight Committee has already uncovered more than $15 million in payments to the Biden family from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China, as well as evidence that Joe Biden spoke with and met with Hunter’s business associates despite repeatedly claiming for years that he did no such thing. A longtime FBI informant also had information about a bribe Joe Biden accepted as vice president.
According to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), the White House has been blocking access to "thousands of pages of documents and emails from the National Archives, where then-Vice President Joe Biden was communicating under pseudonyms clearly designed to avoid public scrutiny."
A formal impeachment inquiry will make it much easier for House Republicans to uncover even more damning evidence against Biden and potentially impeach him.
Johnson has long maintained that, contrary to the partisan impeachments of Trump by the Democrats, Republicans have taken the appropriate steps to handle the Biden investigation and impeachment more appropriately.
“To fulfill our constitutional responsibility, we have to take the next step. We’re not making a political decision; it’s not. It’s a legal decision,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “We can’t prejudge the outcome. The Constitution does not permit us to do so. We have to follow the truth where it takes us.”
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