House Republican leaders released an outline of their plan to carry out an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Shortly after the second GOP presidential debate, James Comer (R-KY), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Jason Smith (R-MO) shared a memo explaining the rationale and evidence for attempting to impeach Biden.
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“The purpose of this inquiry—and at this stage, it is just that, an inquiry—is to determine whether sufficient grounds exist for the Committees to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House,” the chairmen wrote. “This impeachment inquiry will enable the Committees to gather information necessary to assess whether President Biden has engaged in impeachable conduct.”
Republicans opened several investigations into the president and his son, Hunter Biden, as soon as they gained control of the House and won leadership of various committees in 2022. Since then, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ways and Means have revealed several allegations of corruption, bribery, and fraud involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
The primary foundations for the House’s impeachment inquiry, which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced earlier this month, are that the Biden family and its business associates have received millions from foreign sources, that Joe Biden was personally involved in his family’s business dealings, and that the president lied about his involvement.
“The Committees have accumulated significant evidence suggesting that President Biden knew of, participated in, and profited from his family’s international business activities,” the representatives wrote. “In particular, the Committees have assembled information indicating that President Biden may have: (1) performed official acts or changed United States policy as a direct result of the foreign money received by his family; (2) provided access to his federal office in exchange for his family’s receipt of foreign money; and/or (3) knowingly participated in a scheme where foreign business interests were led to believe that they would gain access to him (in his official capacity) if they were to pay substantial amounts of money to his family.”
Though the committee investigations have not uncovered any evidence of Joe Biden being involved in any foreign business deals since he became president, the representatives argue impeachment would be an appropriate step to take if their allegations are proven to be true.
“Given that impeachment is designed, among other things, to protect the American people from corrupt public officials, it makes sense that the Constitution does not limit impeachable offenses to those an officer committed while serving in his current office,” they wrote. “In fact, the Constitution says nothing at all about the timing of impeachable acts.”
The memo was released hours before the House’s first hearing on the impeachment inquiry, set to take place on Thursday morning.
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It’s not clear how long House Republicans intend to draw out the inquiry before deciding whether to file articles of impeachment against Joe Biden.
“There is no artificial deadline for concluding this inquiry,” the chairmen wrote. “The Committees will follow the facts and will take the necessary time to determine whether articles of impeachment should be drafted and referred to the full House for consideration.”
