Kevin McCarthy, Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, gave the green light for an investigation into pres. Joe Biden.
“I instruct the house committee to conduct a formal investigation into Pres. Joe Biden about the possibility of impeachment,” McCarthy said, arguing that Biden allegedly lied to Americans about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings.
“Republicans in the House have serious and credible allegations about Pres. Biden’s actions revealed,” McCarthy told reporters. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”
The business deals in Ukraine and China by Biden’s 53-year-old son Hunter while his father served as vice president under Barack Obama have been repeatedly pointed out by the Republicans.
Hunter Biden, a former drug addict, is currently being investigated for possible tax evasion and is expected to be charged with a firearms offense by the end of this month. However, he has not yet been charged with crimes related to his foreign business dealings.
The White House immediately condemned the announcement, calling it “extreme politics at its worst”.
“Republicans in the house investigated the president for nine months, and they found no evidence of wrongdoing,” said Ian Sams, a White House spokesman.
However, McCarthy said the “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” against Biden “warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.”
“We found that pres. Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings,” McCarthy said.
“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to Biden family members and related persons through various shell companies.”
Under the US constitution, a president can be impeached for “treason, bribery or other serious crimes”.
Democrats condemned the investigation as a partisan exercise intended to take revenge for the two times ex-pres. Donald Trump was prosecuted at the time.
Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential nomination battle for 2024, will stand trial in March in Washington on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the November 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
Trump was impeached twice by the house of representatives while in office, but was acquitted both times by the senate.
