US House launches Republican impeachment inquiry against Biden
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The vote of 221 to 212 was along strict party lines, with every Republican voting for it and every Democrat against.
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US President Joe Biden leaves after speaking at a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 13, 2023. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on his son Hunter's controversial international dealings -- a move Biden himself slammed as a "baseless" stunt.
Republicans have yet to provide evidence of corruption by the president, and the Democratic-led Senate would be unlikely to convict Biden even if the inquiry did lead to an actual impeachment trial.
The vote of 221 to 212 was along strict party lines, with every Republican voting for it and every Democrat against.
Conservatives accuse Biden's troubled son Hunter of influence-peddling. The allegations refer to incidents that took place before his father became president, and the White House has stressed there has been no wrongdoing.
Biden himself responded immediately after the vote, accusing Republicans of stalling on a multitude of key fronts while obsessing over a desire to score political points against a president running for reelection in 2024.
"Instead of doing anything to help make Americans' lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies," Biden said in a lengthy statement.
"Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts."
On his part, Hunter Biden issued an angry statement in Washington, saying, "My father was not financially involved in my business."
It is noteworthy that the Republican Party first began probing a possible Biden impeachment earlier this year. Hearings began in late September, leading to the decision to hold Wednesday's vote.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer charged Wednesday that the investigations so far have "revealed how Joe Biden knew of, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name around the world."
Experts interviewed during the proceedings, however, said there was no evidence to justify a Biden impeachment, and Democrats say the Republicans are playing pure politics.
"There is zero evidence that President Biden has engaged in any wrongdoing," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday.
The Republicans, however, say that by triggering the full inquiry they will gain new legal powers allowing them to find the evidence they need.
The US Constitution provides that Congress may remove a president for "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
Impeachment by the House, which is the political equivalent of a criminal indictment, would spark a trial by the Senate, with the president losing his job if convicted -- an unlikely scenario for Biden given the chamber's Democratic control.
Although three US presidents have been impeached -- Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Trump in 2019 and 2021 -- none has ever been removed from office by the Senate.
