House to vote on Republicans’ Biden impeachment inquiry: Updates : NPR

The House is expected to vote Wednesday to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, as House Republicans intensify the investigation into Biden they opened earlier this year.

House Republicans allege that President Biden and his family engaged in an “influence peddling” scheme and took payments from foreign adversaries. The inquiry focuses largely on the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and his foreign business dealings.

So far, Republicans have not presented any clear evidence of impeachable offenses by President Biden. Both Hunter Biden and the White House have vehemently denied the allegations.

The move is intended, in part, to give the investigating committees greater legal authority to enforce subpoenas, and comes just hours after Hunter Biden failed to appear for a closed-door deposition.

The president’s son made an unexpected appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, but did not show up to a scheduled deposition with the House Oversight Committee. He told reporters that he is willing to testify in a public hearing, but not behind closed doors.

“I am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions,” Biden said. “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics exposed, expose their baseless inquiry or hear what I have to say.”

Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement that Biden “defied lawful subpoenas” by failing to appear, and that they would now “initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.”

Hunter Biden gives a forceful denial in rare public statement

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol Wednesday, Hunter Biden said that “there is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business. Because it did not happen.”

“Let me state as clearly as I can,” Biden said. “My father was not financially involved in my business. Not as a practicing lawyer. Not as a board member of Burisma, not my partnership with a Chinese private businessman. Not in my investments at home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist.”

Last month, Oversight Committee Chair Comer presented documents that allegedly suggested President Biden received payments from Hunter Biden’s law firm, which had received payments from Chinese companies and other foreign entities. Hunter Biden’s lawyers responded that the payments were from Hunter to his father, to repay him for financing a truck when he was unable to secure credit.

“In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances,” Hunter Biden said. “But to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless.”

Hunter Biden accused House Republicans of “cherry-picking lines from a bank statement, manipulating texts I sent, editing the testimony of my friends and former business partners, and misstating personal information that was stolen from me.”

Republicans defend their probe

Comer defended his investigation, calling it “a serious, credible, transparent investigation from day one.”

“This is an investigation about public corruption at the highest levels,” the Kentucky Republican added. “We have accumulated mountains of evidence that’s concerning to an overwhelming majority of Americans. … We expect to depose the president son and then we will be more than happy to have a public hearing with him.”

Jordan said he was “disappointed” that Biden did not appear, and said that an initial public hearing wouldn’t work.

“You do it in an open format now, you’re gonna get filibusters, you’re gonna get speeches, you’re gonna get all kinds of things,” he said. “What we want is the facts.”

The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry — with claims dating back before Biden was president — as a political charade. It’s occurring as Biden’s predecessor and likely opponent in the 2024 campaign faces dozens of criminal charges in several indictments, including for attempts to subvert the 2020 election.