WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to formalise an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, escalating Republicans’ battle with Democrats ahead of the 2024 election in a move Biden himself slammed as a “baseless” stunt.
Republicans, seizing on Biden’s son Hunter’s controversial international dealings, have yet to provide evidence of corruption by the president, and the Democraticled Senate would be unlikely to convict him 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 — 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 influencepeddling — 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 key fronts — such as funding government — while obsessing over scoring political points ahead of the election.
Hunter Biden, whose chaotic personal life and business dealings have become a magnet for rightwing conspiracy theories and media investigations, issued an angry statement in Washington.
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.
Egged on by Trump — who was impeached twice, including for his attempts to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss to Biden — the Republican Party first began probing a possible Biden impeachment earlier this year.
Hearings began late September, leading to the decision to hold Wednesday’s vote. 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. The US Constitution provides that Congress may remove a president for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours”. – AFP
