WASHINGTON >> House Republicans today subpoenaed members of President Joe Biden’s family, taking the most aggressive step yet in an impeachment inquiry bitterly opposed by Democrats and which tests the scope of Congress’s oversight powers.
The long-awaited decision by Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to subpoena the president’s son, Hunter, and his brother James, comes as Republicans seek to gain ground in their investigation which has lasted for almost a year. So far, they have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in wrongdoing.
But Republicans say the evidence they uncovered paints a troubling picture of “influence peddling” by Biden’s family in their business dealings, particularly with clients overseas.
“Now the House Oversight Committee will bring in members of the Biden family and their associates for questioning about this body of evidence,” Comer, of Kentucky, said in a statement.
The stakes are extremely high, as the investigation could lead Republicans to pursue impeachment proceedings against Biden, the ultimate punishment for what the U.S. Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The subpoenas require Hunter Biden and James Biden as well as former business associate Rob Walker to appear before the Oversight Committee for a deposition by mid-December. Lawmakers also requested that James Biden’s wife, Sara Biden, and Hallie Biden, the wife of the president’s deceased son Beau, voluntarily appear for transcribed interviews.
Requests for comment from Hunter Biden and James Biden were not immediately returned.
The White House and the Biden family’s personal lawyers have dismissed the investigation, calling it a political ploy aimed at harming the Democratic president. They say the investigation is a blatant attempt to help former President Donald Trump, the early front-runner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, as he runs for the White House again.
“These subpoenas and interview requests are further evidence that this bogus impeachment inquiry is driven solely by the demands of the vengeful and procrastinating Donald Trump,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House committee. surveillance, in a press release.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, called the subpoenas “yet another political stunt” and said the investigation was full of “worn, false, baseless or debunked claims.”
“Nevertheless, Hunter looks forward to the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these issues with the Committee,” he added.
The impeachment inquiry slowed in early October after Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker by a handful of fellow Republicans, stalling legislative work and congressional investigations as the conference spent weeks deliberating over his replacement before electing Mike Johnson late last month.
Now installed in the presidency, Johnson, of Louisiana, has given his blessing to the investigation and hinted that a decision could soon be made on whether to pursue articles of impeachment against Biden.
“I think we have a constitutional responsibility to follow that truth where it leads,” Johnson recently told Fox News Channel. He also said in another interview on Fox that he would support Comer’s decision to subpoena the president’s son, saying “desperate times call for desperate measures, and it might be long overdue.”
In a letter to Johnson this morning, Lowell urged the new president to curb “partisan political games.”
Since January, Republicans have been investigating the Biden family for what they allege is a practice of “influence peddling” dating back to Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president. Comer claims the committee had “uncovered a mountain of evidence” that he said would show how Biden abused his power and repeatedly lied about the “wall” between his political position and his son’s private business dealings.
Although questions have been raised about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international affairs, no evidence has been established to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous term, abused his role or accepted bribes. -of wine.
Over the summer, Republicans expanded their probe to include oversight of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden and allegations that the case was rife with interference.
One focus of the Congressional investigation was whether the now special counsel in charge of the case, David Weiss, had full authority to bring charges against the president’s youngest son. In an unprecedented interview Tuesday, Weiss told lawmakers he was the “decision maker” in a years-long case over Hunter Biden’s taxes and gun use.
No one at the Justice Department, including U.S. attorneys or the Tax Division, blocked or prevented him from filing charges or taking other necessary steps in the investigation, Weiss said.
The five-year investigation into Hunter Biden was expected to end with a plea deal this summer, but it imploded during a plea hearing in July. Weiss has now charged the president’s son with three firearms offenses related to purchasing a gun in 2018 during a period when Hunter Biden admitted to being a drug addict. No new taxes have been filed.
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Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.