Since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in September, the trio of committees leading the investigation have been trying to build momentum.
They have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members.
Now, the House is expected to vote on Wednesday to formalize the inquiry into the president — something Republican proponents of the vote say will fortify subpoenas and strengthen the inquiry’s legal standing. GOP members of the House Rules Committee also argued the move was in response to stonewalling by the administration to hand over documents it requested.
But, even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden. There has only been one hearing related to the inquiry since its launch, where the expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged GOP investigators hadn’t yet presented enough evidence to prove the accusations they were leveling.
At every stage, House Democrats and the White House have refuted and sometimes even debunked the accusations leveled by Republicans, who have tried to connect Joe Biden to his son’s million-dollar overseas deals.
Some of the findings: The House Oversight panel — one of the committees leading the investigation — has focused on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and sought to make connections to his father. In the early stages of their investigation, they interviewed five people and issued nine bank subpoenas, but have ramped up to issue nine subpoenas for testimony in the last month. The Republican-led committee released a document last week showing payment from Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden when he was not in office — but they omitted evidence that the president’s son was repaying his father for a car.
There have also been two personal checks from the president’s brother, James Biden, to Joe Biden when he was not in office, that the committee released. However, available evidence suggests these were loan repayments.
Even though these payments are a far cry from the Republican accusations that the president profited from his family’s foreign business dealings, the existence of the checks has provided fuel to the president’s political opponents and the GOP far-right base.
