House GOP lawmakers pushed through with their impeachment inquiry of United States President Joe Biden, holding their first hearing on Wednesday.
Republicans have long made the business dealings of the president's son, Hunter Biden, the central focus of their impeachment inquiry. To date, they have not uncovered sufficient evidence showing that the Democratic leader received any money from his son's business endeavors.
Biden Impeachment Inquiry
The impeachment hearing, which was held before the GOP-led House Oversight Committee, laid the groundwork for the battle lines over the inquiry. It has been ramping up with more subpoenas and the release of new documents. Additionally, witnesses who testified before the panel said that there was not enough evidence to impeach the president.
The committee chair also announced that he was issuing subpoenas for the bank records of Hunter and his brother, James Biden, on Wednesday. The first impeachment hearing comes as Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is trying to secure votes to keep the government running beyond a Sept. 30 deadline, which is when a shutdown is expected to happen, as per CNN.
The hearing on Thursday did not include any witnesses who could speak directly to Hunter's foreign business dealings. However, it did offer Republicans the opportunity to show some of the evidence that they have uncovered.
While none of the evidence has shown that the president received any money from his son's business dealings, Republican lawmakers argued that they gave them enough reason to launch their impeachment inquiry against the Democratic president.
The Democratic Party responded to the inquiry by accusing Republican lawmakers of doing former United States President Donald Trump's bidding and raising his and his family's various foreign dealings themselves. They also accused GOP politicians of supporting the former president's attempts to get Ukraine to investigate in 2019 the same allegations that are now being raised in the impeachment inquiry.
The first hearing comes a few weeks after McCarthy allowed the chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees to open the inquiry without having a floor vote. Democrats also said that the Republicans' push to impeach the president is baseless, according to Yahoo News.
Republicans' Alleged Evidence
The witnesses in the case include Eileen O'Connor, the former assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, and Jonathan Turley, a law professor who testified in support of Trump during the latter's impeachment inquiry in 2019.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer, said that lawmakers have "a mountain of evidence" that will show that the president allegedly abused his public office to benefit his family financially.
Another Republican-called witness, Bruce Dubinsky, who is a forensic accountant, undermined the GOP's claims. He told the committee that there is no evidence that connects the president to illicit activities.
On the other hand, Professor Michael Gerhardt, House Democrats' witness, said that there was no evidence to justify the impeachment inquiry on Biden. He used an analogy to describe the inquiry, saying that if Hunter was pulled over for speeding in a car owned by his father and they wanted to give the speeding ticket to the latter, said Independent.
