USA. Joe Biden – impeachment, will there be? Speaker of the House of Representatives calls for formal investigation

“The American people have the right to know that government offices are not for sale and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically connected family,” Kevin McCarthy told Congress, announcing the launch of a corruption investigation into the president’s son Hunter and the president himself.

As the Republican leader said, “the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s findings to date have shown that President Biden lied when he claimed he was unaware of his son Hunter’s business ventures,” and that Hunter and his partners “received more than $20 million through bush companies, and over 150 transfers affecting these accounts were reported by banks as suspicious.

“Together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption,” McCarthy said. However, he suggested that opening an investigation does not necessarily mean the president would be impeached and that the investigation “will go where the evidence takes it.”

According to a spokesman for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mark Bednar, a vote on initiating an investigation is not expected.

As CNN reported, the move comes amid growing pressure from the right flank of Kevin McCarthy’s party to continue the investigation, including some far-right politicians who have threatened to remove him as speaker if he does not act quickly enough on the investigation. impeachment case.

As Politico noted, the decision was opposed by more than a dozen moderate congressmen who say the evidence does not show Biden’s involvement in his son’s practices. Among others For this reason, McCarthy decided to order an investigation himself, bypassing a vote on the matter.

– I do not support an impeachment inquiry at this time. I think the investigation should be based on evidence of a crime that points directly to President Biden, Congressman Don Bacon told the website. He added that although the corrupt activities of Hunter, who invoked the influence of his father, are obvious to him, the impeachment concerns the president, not his son.

In August, the congressional Republican leader said he wanted to determine whether Biden and his son Hunter “took bribes” and participated in business ventures together. The case mainly concerns the activities of both communities Ukraine. According to a declassified FBI report, a Ukrainian source at the agency stated that oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky (owner of the Burisma gas company that employed Hunter Biden) paid $10 million in bribes to Biden in 2015 for actions against then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.

These reports have not yet been confirmed, no evidence has been found, and Złoczewski himself has denied this information. Critics also pointed out that the resignation of Shokin, who is widely considered corrupt, was publicly demanded not only by then-Vice President Biden, but by most Western diplomats.

Hunter Biden’s business partner, Devon Archer, also testified to the committee that Hunter sold Burisma and other foreign companies the “illusion of access” to his father, but did not witness the involvement Joe Biden in his son’s activities. In his published emails, Hunter often cited his father’s influence.

The federal prosecutor’s investigation into Hunter Biden continues after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a proposed settlement under which the president’s son would be charged with failing to pay taxes. The person in charge of the case, appointed by Donald Trump investigator David Weiss, recently obtained the status of a special prosecutor with expanded powers and freedom of action. Still, according to Republicans who initially called for such a move, it may be an attempt to “suppress” the investigation.

Many members of the Republican Party were furious when the House of Representatives, then controlled by Democrats, impeached Republican President Donald Trump twice – in 2019 and 2021 – although he was acquitted both times in the Senate.

In addition to the issue of Biden’s potential corruption, already in June, some Republicans demanded that Biden be impeached in connection with this migration crisis on the border. Ultimately, there was no vote on this matter, but it was referred to the committee.