OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) strongly suggested on Sunday that GOP-controlled committees would send subpoenas to first son Hunter Biden to compel his testimony as their investigations into his and his father’s suspicious foreign business dealings continue.
In an interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox News, Johnson was asked about sending subpoenas to Hunter Biden.
“I’m looking at that. I think that desperate times call for desperate measures, and perhaps that is overdue,” he said.
While pointing out his own experience as an attorney, Johnson said he is currently discussing the matter with congressional lawyers and that a “full decision” has not been made on the matter.
“We’re trying to move forward on some of this very aggressively,” Johnson told Bartiromo [see video below]. “I think the American people are owed these answers. And I think our suspicions about all this, the evidence that we have gathered so far, as you know, is affirming what many of us feared may be the worst.”
The Hill added:
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced last month he was moving to launch an official impeachment inquiry into Biden following House Republicans’ widespread investigations into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
Investigations from House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have probed into Hunter Biden’s time on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was vice president. Those spearheading the investigations allege Biden and members of his family, including Hunter, benefited financially from foreign business dealings as a result of Biden’s status as a leader.
Johnson was noncommittal when Bartiromo asked him whether the Republicans’ impeachment inquiry would turn into an actual impeachment of President Biden.
“We’ll see, Maria,” Johnson responded. “I worked on the committees of jurisdiction, and the judiciary is one of those. I think our chairmen have done an exceptional job. You have spoken to all of them, Jamie Comer and Jim Jordan and [Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.)], on Oversight and Judiciary and Ways and Means [committees].”
Maintaining he is “encouraging” these investigations, the Speaker added that there is a “constitutional responsibility to follow this truth where it leads.”
WATCH:
“It is ‘very likely’ that President Biden has committed impeachable offenses, according to Speaker Mike Johnson, who was elected to the office on Wednesday,” Newsweek reported on Saturday.
McCarthy authorized a former impeachment inquiry into Biden in September, as several GOP-led House panels began honing in on whether the president was ever influenced by the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, and his brother, James Biden.
Witnesses have testified before the committees that both James and Hunter were “selling” the “Biden brand” to foreign government and business interests, leading Republicans to suggest that the president now could be compromised.
McCarthy said the president faced “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption,” warranting further investigation.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity—his first after being elected Speaker—Johnson (R-La.) suggested that Biden has committed impeachable offenses, but he planned to allow due process to play out.
“The reason we shifted to the impeachment inquiry stage on the president himself was that if, in fact, all the evidence leads to where we believe it will, that’s very likely impeachable offenses,” he said.
“That’s listed as a cause for impeachment in the Constitution—bribery and other crimes and misdemeanors. Bribery’s listed there, and it looks and smells a lot like that. We’re going to follow the truth wherever it leads. We’re going to engage in due process because, again, we’re the rule of law party,” Johnson added.
“I know people are getting anxious, and they’re getting restless, and they just want somebody to be impeached, but we don’t do that like the other team. We have to base it on the evidence,” Johnson said.
