The North American House of Representatives on Wednesday approved with a Republican majority the formal opening of an impeachment inquiry into the country’s President Joe Biden.
The investigation had already been opened unilaterally in September by the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, but only now did the Republican opposition give its approval in a plenary meeting – with 221 votes in favor and 212 against – in the hope that this would become official and facilitate your access to information, documents and testimonies.
‘White House blocks important testimony’criticized House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, one of three members of Congress who led this investigation, describing it as “important and necessary.”
The current president of the lower house of Congress, Mike Johnson, had justified the Republicans’ decision to proceed with the vote by the White House’s refusal to grant his requests for more information.
Although several Republicans have publicly expressed doubts about this investigation in recent months, the opposition managed to get the investigation approved.
Biden is accused of using his influence throughout his political career to benefit the foreign businesses of his relatives, especially his son Hunter Biden.
Although the investigation raised ethical concerns, it found no evidence that Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or in his previous role as vice president.?????????
However, the opposition accuses the Democratic president of using his influence when he was vice president of the United States under Barack Obama (2009-2017) to help his son Hunter and other family members in allegedly irregular deals with “enemy” countries . like China.?????????
During the investigation, Mike Johnson said that the three established committees concluded that the Biden family received more than 15 million dollars (13.7 million euros) between 2014 and 2019 from companies and foreign governments in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania and China . The partners are said to have received another nine million dollars (8.27 million euros).
Hunter Biden was called to testify about this behind closed doors this Wednesday, but he did not comply with the subpoena, claiming he wanted his testimony made public.
By approving the investigation, Republicans guarantee that the impeachment inquiry will continue until 2024, when Biden will run for re-election, with a high likelihood of another confrontation with former President Donald Trump, who is also targeted of two impeachment proceedings during the elections. his time in the White House.
Trump was among the voices putting the most pressure on the Republican Party to act quickly on Biden’s impeachment.
House Democrats today opposed this investigation, calling it an “extreme political coup, lacking credibility, legitimacy or integrity,” as Congressman Jim McGovern classified it during a plenary debate.
“These people don’t work for Americans, they work for Donald Trump.”further complained the Democrat, for whom the ongoing investigation is a continuation of the “crusade” undertaken by Republicans to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The United States Constitution states that the president can be removed from office in an impeachment trial if he commits “high crimes or misdemeanors.”
If the investigation yields results, the House of Representatives will have to vote on whether to bring charges against the current president, but the power to impeach the country’s head of state then falls to the Senate, where Democrats currently hold are in control, making Biden’s impeachment unlikely.
Source: DN
