Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle weighed in on Wednesday afternoon ahead of a House vote on whether to formalize its ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Republicans have raised allegations that the president has abused his power throughout his political career by allowing his family members to leverage his political connections to advance their business dealings. After winning control of the House in the 2022 midterms, Republicans began formally investigating these allegations and initiated an impeachment inquiry in September.
President Biden and his allies have denied claims he had involvement in his family’s business dealings, but Republicans have pointed to various payments flowing from Biden’s family members to the president and indications the president was brought in on phone calls and meetings involving his family members and their business associates. Republicans have also raised questions about suspected aliases the president may have used in the past to communicate with his family members about business matters.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) argued the president and his allies have offered inconsistent denials about his level of interaction with his family’s business dealings.
“Why does this story keep on changing if it’s the truth? It’s obviously not the truth. He keeps on changing the story. It keeps on getting worse and worse,” Mr. McCormick told NTD News on Wednesday.
Among the payments that flowed from various members of the Biden family to the president were $200,000 and $40,000 checks from his brother, James Biden, with the stated purpose of servicing a loan repayment between the brothers. Republicans have also identified payments from a business owned by the president’s son, Hunter Biden, to his father with the stated purpose of repaying a loan for a truck. The White House has insisted payments that came in from the president’s family were for legitimate reasons and corresponded to periods when he did not hold political office.
“I think if the evidence wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be moving forward,” Rep. Dale Strong (R-Ala.) told NTD News ahead of the Wednesday vote.
Democrats Say ‘No Evidence’ Supporting Impeachment
Democrats have insisted the documents their Republican counterparts have gathered thus far do not show evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
“The impeachment inquiry vote is absurd. There’s absolutely no evidence that the president has done anything wrong whatsoever,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, told NTD News on Wednesday.
Mr. Nadler insisted every hearing Republicans have held related to their investigation of the president has ended with “mud in their face.” He insisted Republicans have also resorted to distorting witness testimony to advance their case.
In a speech on the house floor on Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) claimed even some of the witnesses House Republicans had called as part of their investigation undercut the case for a crime.
Other Democrat lawmakers argued that the impeachment process Republicans are pursuing is a distraction from more pressing issues.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans have spent all year playing dangerous political games. They repeatedly dragged our economy to the brink. Now they’re wasting time with an impeachment based on no evidence. How does this help the American family? It doesn’t,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote in a post on the X social media app on Wednesday ahead of the vote.
Republicans Say Formal Vote Will Bolster Investigative Powers
Some House Republicans have argued that formalizing the impeachment process through a vote will lend added credibility as they issue subpoenas and seek legal recourse against those who refuse to comply. Hunter Biden is among those who could soon face legal exposure after defying a House request to appear before a closed-door testimony on Wednesday.
“The inquiry needs to move forward, that gives us a stronger case in court on subpoenas and warrants to get the judiciary to follow through and provide warrants for people that ignore subpoenas like Hunter today,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) told NTD News on Wednesday.
Rather than attend the closed-door hearing on Wednesday, Hunter Biden insisted he would only testify in a publicly visible setting.
“When it looks like you’re evading questions, when you want to avoid the obvious, when you have all this evidence, multiple countries, multiple bank accounts, multiple family members receiving money for nobody knows what, that looks darn suspicious,” Mr. McCormick said.
Mr. Nadler pushed back on House Republicans claiming the impeachment vote will provide the necessary subpoena power to pursue their case, stating Democrats “made the same mistake” in their reasoning during the 2019 impeachment effort against then-President Donald Trump.
“We voted impeachment inquiry, we had grounds for an impeachment inquiry, but we voted the inquiry, formally voted the inquiry because we thought it would help us in enforcing subpoenas. It did not,” Mr. Nadler said.
Mr. Nadler said Hunter Biden was “properly concerned” about Republicans distorting his closed-door testimony.]