Today, September 28, House Republicans take the first step in an impeachment inquiry exploring President Joe Biden’s involvement during his time as vice president in his son’s influence-peddling schemes. The White House continues to claim, perhaps ironically, that the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is pursuing a politically motivated impeachment with no evidence of wrongdoing. The first hearing has been labeled, “The Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.”
The Republican-led committee will hear from three witnesses on this first day: Eileen O’Connor, a former Justice Department assistant attorney general; Bruce Dubinsky, founder of Dubinsky Consulting; and law professor Jonathan Turley.
GOP lawmakers have amassed a considerable amount of evidence that strongly indicates Joe Biden, as VP, was actively involved in Hunter Biden’s seemingly prolific selling of access to the White House.
The most recent public revelation concerns payments made to Hunter Biden in 2019 via two bank wires of Chinese origin. Joe Biden’s Delaware home was listed as the beneficiary address for the two transfers of $250,000 and $10,000. Joe Biden’s defenders scoffed at this latest news, saying Hunter Biden lived at his father’s house at the time, which explains why that address was listed. The evidence suggests, though, that the junior Biden was not residing at his dad’s home during that period. While his lawyers were trying to strike a bargain with the Justice Department as he faced tax and gun charges, Hunter Biden in fact claimed he was living in California in 2019.
Evidence Justifies an Impeachment Inquiry
Whether there’s anything incriminating about the Chinese payments or not, Republicans have sufficient material to justify at least an inquiry. For perspective, former President Donald Trump was impeached for making a phone call. At the time, House Democrats had no evidence of an impeachable offense. The conversation that took place between the 45th president and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky – and how Democrats and their impeachment witnesses chose to interpret what was said – constituted the entire basis of the Democrats’ investigation.
Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Thus, regardless of whether Biden is impeached, there is enough evidence to warrant the inquiry. Unlike those Democrats who vowed to impeach Trump even before he was inaugurated, Republicans have not yet committed to an impeachment vote for Joe Biden. The purpose of launching an inquiry is to give GOP investigators the power they need to gather documents and other materials that have been denied them thus far.
In fact, this first hearing is not the start of the impeachment inquiry proper. Rather, its real purpose is to lay out why such an inquiry should be initiated. However, Republicans will not be aided by the left-wing press the way Democrats were when they impeached Trump – twice. This time around, the impeachers will face a barrage of attacks from those same organizations. At least, that is what everyone should assume. As vulnerable as he is, though, Joe Biden might see the media wagons declining to circle him even as they play down the impeachment effort. It is possible that the Fourth Estate giants, normally so loyal to Joe Biden’s party, will take a step back and leave the failing commander-in-chief to his fate. Though there’s no realistic chance that an impeached Joe Biden would be convicted in the US Senate, what the Republicans reveal during the inquiry might be more than enough to end his decades-long political career.
