OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The United States House of Representatives voted in December to formally authorize its investigation into President Joe Biden’s potential impeachment.
By a party-line vote of 221-212, the Republican-controlled chamber approved the investigation, which is looking into whether Biden improperly benefited from his 53-year-old son Hunter Biden’s international business dealings. Hunter Biden had earlier declined an invitation to testify behind closed doors.
The move drew immediate pushback from Democrats, but Washington Examiner columnist Byron York pointed out that just a few years ago, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a similar decision and announced an impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump.
“On October 15, 2019, three weeks after unilaterally declaring an impeachment inquiry, Speaker Pelosi, backed by Adam Schiff, insisted there was no requirement to hold an authorizing vote, and she would not hold an authorizing vote,” he tweeted.
Pelosi recently lost her cool with MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell over Republicans looking to impeach President Biden because of his alleged ties to his son Hunter’s business dealings.
Despite her support for impeachment proceedings against Trump while in office, Pelosi dismissed the idea of impeaching Biden, citing the purported achievements of Biden’s administration.
MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell asked Pelosi, “How do you feel about the push by the House Republicans—many of them—the Speaker certainly, you know, certainly flirted with this idea of impeachment proceedings against President Biden because of unfounded allegations that he was involved with his son Hunter’s businesses?”
Already perturbed, Pelosi tried to dismiss the question, waving her hands and interjecting, “Well, let’s just…” Though Mitchell continued.
The host added, “As you well know, you were very cautious about starting impeachment proceedings for the very reason that once you start in a special committee or the judiciary committee, it’s very hard to stop that process.”
Pelosi seemed to not want anything to do with Mitchell’s question. She replied, “With all due respect to your question, this is frivolous; this is a diversionary tactic.”
The Democratic lawmaker then talked about Biden’s economic success, stating, “They just can’t stand the fact we have a job report of over nearly 200,000 jobs today, that unemployment is three-and-a-half percent, that 18 straight months of unemployment are under 4 percent.”
Pelosi added, “We’re talking about 13.4 million jobs created with Joe Biden in the White House and working with the Congressional Democrats.”
She again alleged that the GOP is using impeachment to obscure these high points of the Biden term, stating, “They have to change the subject, and they have nothing to offer the American people in terms of jobs and the rest. They talk about it, but then they change the subject when it’s time to deliver.”
She kept going: “It’s really sad. I wish the Republican Party would be—someone would take it back—that we’d have a real Republican Party. It’s up to them to decide what it is. But it shouldn’t be a cult.”
“It shouldn’t be a cult to somebody frivolous with the law and his puppets,” she concluded, clearly referencing Trump.
WATCH:
House Republicans who are investigating President Joe Biden for possible impeachment are questioning his involvement in his son Hunter Biden’s refusal to comply with a subpoena from Congress.
Noting that the president knew his son was going to evade the subpoena and answer questions behind closed doors, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R–Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R–Ohio) wrote a letter to the White House requesting any records or correspondence exchanged between Hunter Biden, his representatives, and the administration.
“We are compelled to examine as part of our impeachment inquiry whether the President engaged in a conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of Congress,” the letter, sent to White House Counsel Edward Siskel, reads.
In December, Republican-led investigative committees called on Hunter Biden to appear and respond to their inquiries.
Defying the subpoena and making statements on Capitol Hill criticizing the investigation while defending his father, Hunter Biden insisted on publicly testifying instead.
Hunter Biden was worried that Republicans would leak his testimony selectively, so he demanded a public speech. Republican members of the House argued that he must comply with the subpoena’s demands and that public demonstrations by Democrats would have ruined the hearing.
For a long time, Republicans have claimed that Joe Biden personally benefited from his family’s international business interests, but they have failed to present any proof linking him to those transactions.
