OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Two Republican committee chairmen, James Comer of Kentucky and Jim Jordan of Ohio, have renewed their investigation into President Joe Biden, who allegedly may have attempted to hinder his son Hunter Biden’s cooperation with the House’s impeachment investigation.
An official White House statement suggested that President Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s plot to ignore congressional subpoenas in advance, which led to the investigation.
According to the statement, “In light of an official statement from the White House that President Biden was aware in advance that his son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas, 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 House Committee on Oversight and Accountability (Oversight Committee) and the House Committee on the Judiciary (Judiciary Committee, and with the Oversight Committee, the Committees) are investigating whether sufficient grounds exist to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House. Along with House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, we set forth in a September 27, 2023 memorandum the evidence justifying the inquiry and the scope of this impeachment investigation. On December 13, 2023, the House of Representatives directed the Committees to continue this investigation,” the statement read.
“In light of an official statement from the White House that President Biden was aware in advance that his
son, Hunter Biden, would knowingly defy two congressional subpoenas, 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 statement added.
The statement continued: “The Committees issued subpoenas to Hunter Biden for a deposition to be conducted on December 13, 2023. In correspondence with Mr. Biden’s attorney prior to the scheduled date of the depositions, the Committees addressed and rejected Mr. Biden’s justifications for not complying with the terms of the subpoenas, as well as Mr. Biden’s demand for special treatment from the Committees.”
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.
Newly crowned House Speaker Mike Johnson recently spoke about the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, saying, “We have a responsibility to do it.”
“These are — these are serious times and this is a very serious matter. And I’ve said many times over the last few years, because impeachment has been an issue that we’ve all become all too familiar with, that next to the Declaration of War, you can make an argument that impeachment may be the heaviest power that Congress holds. That — that constitutional responsibility lies with the House,” Johnson began at a press conference.
“We — we have a duty to pursue the facts where they lead. John Adams famously said ‘Facts are stubborn things.’ And you heard the recitation of that here this morning. These facts are alarming. They’re alarming to the American people, they are alarming to us. And so while we take no pleasure in the — in the proceedings here, we have a responsibility to do it. We’re very proud of the work of these three chairmen that you’ve seen here, Chairman Comer, and Jordan and Smith,” Johnson added.
He continued: “They’ve done an exceptional job on uncovering the obvious corruption. And you’ve heard it here summarized this morning, very succinctly, President Biden and the Biden family. We — we owe it to the American people to continue this process, but to do it methodically, and transparently. Many of you know I was on — I’m a lawyer, I’m constitutional law attorney, I served on President Trump’s impeachment defense team twice. And we lament it openly, and we decried how the Democrats politicize that process, they were brazenly political, and how they — they brought those meritless impeachment charges against the — the president.”
“This what you’re seeing here is exactly the opposite. We are the rule of law team, the Republican Party stands for the rule of law. And the people in charge of this are doing this thoroughly, carefully and methodically. They’re investigating and gathering all the facts,” he said.
“And to do this appropriately, and to do it in a manner that upholds our constitutional responsibility, requires time, it requires a sound process. You don’t rush something like this. You can’t, if you’re going to have fidelity to the Constitution. These chairmen are committed to proceeding in that manner. And that’s what you’re seeing. We’ve — we’ve heard from whistleblowers, Biden business associates, legal experts and now we have reached the point in the investigation that we need to hear from a handful of really key witnesses in this,” Johnson stated.
Johnson continued, “The — the chairman have issued a — a few dozen subpoenas, and we expect that those would be complied with in an expeditious manner. We’re not prejudging this. We will follow the facts wherever they lead. Again, that’s our constitutional duty. And — and I fully support our chairmen in their efforts, and we’ll have a lot more to share on this in the days ahead. We’ll take a few questions.”
