Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry and hearing Thursday, September 28, against president Joe Biden. They started this hearing with the promise of “providing accountability”. Recently, President Joe Biden has an allegation against him that he is benefitting his son Hunter’s foreign business.
The Chairman of Judiciary Oversight committee, and ways and means committees are trying to show what they say are links to Biden's son Hunter's business overseas, though witnesses said they do not see concrete evidence of impeachable offenses.
“The lawmakers have a mountain of evidence that will show that elder Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain” Representative and the oversight chairman James Comer said.
But Comer and his Republican colleagues did not provide concrete evidence backing up this huge allegation of wrongdoing. The three witnesses for Republicans apparently did not offer any direct information of wrongdoing either.
“I am not here today to even suggest that there was corruption, fraud, or wrongdoing. More information needs to be gathered before I can make such an assessment.” Forensic accountant and Republican Witness Bruce Dubinsky said.
He also said that Hunter’s finances are difficult and raise questions about potentially illegal activities.
The main allegation from House Republicans is that when Biden was vice president, he directly benefited from Hunter Biden’s business deals in Ukraine and China.
At the hearing’s conclusion, Comer stated that the committee will continue the effort to impeach Biden, which was a promise nearly a year ago when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in November of last year.
There were some outbursts with members occasionally yelling back and forth as Comer struggled to keep the hearing in order at times.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the proceedings an “embarrassment.”
“I think that there are some pros and cons, but I mostly have a neutral standing point. I’m not sure I believe in what they are saying about Hunter and Joe Biden, but it’s very well possible.” NHS Junior Liam Tolnay said.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking democrat on the panel, strongly criticized the actions of the committee for both lack of evidence and the hearing’s timing, giving a looming government shutdown.
Throughout the hearing, Raskin and other democrats presented laptops in front of them with a clock counting down until the government would necessarily need to shut down.
Republicans indicated a shutdown would not impact their inquiry. They plan to continue their impeachment inquiry during a shutdown, but it is so far unclear how many staffers will be assigned to it then. No additional hearings so far have been scheduled.
The allegations stemming from two IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, continued to come up. The two came forward publicly and said that the Justice Department mishandled the situation with the investigation into Joe Biden.
“What were the Biden’s selling to make all this money? Joe Biden himself,” Representative and the Oversight Chairman James Comer said.
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