The right flank of the House GOP caucus has been pressuring the House leadership to push an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. It appears that they will focus on very much unproven allegations that the president accepted a bribe.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has indicated that he is willing to pursue an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, although he has stopped short of declaring that he is in favor of impeachment itself.
Since that was reported last month, left out of many stories is what, exactly, Republicans will accuse the president of having done that warrants impeachment. There have been various resolutions pursued by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) since the start of Biden’s presidency, with many of those focused on the president’s handling of the border.
Congressional committees, led by the House Oversight Committee, have been investigating the president’s son Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals, and how different members of the Biden family have benefited. But they have yet to uncover any solid evidence that the president himself took any money improperly, or that he did anything in office as a result of his son’s business deals.
Now, a report says that Republicans plan to use “bribery” as their reason to impeach the president.
According to The Messenger, which cited “top House conservatives and four senior aides,” Republicans plan to argue that Hunter Biden’s business deals at the time that his father was vice president amounted to a “bribery scheme.”
“This is not, ‘Oh my God, you were in Washington, D.C., on January 6 so we’re going to send every frigging power of law enforcement after you or your family.’ This is literally: ‘There was money flowing to the son of the vice president turned president,’” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told The Messenger, in an impressively skewed reading of how and why January 6 defendants have been tried and convicted.
“That money was coming from foreign countries,” Roy added, per The Messenger. “The vice president and then president was then lying about his knowledge about it. We know that to be true.”
In the same story, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) added that the president should be impeached for “his role in the Biden Crime Family’s acceptance of tens of millions of dollars in bribes from foreign countries.”
Once again, the House Republicans have not demonstrated that the president had a “role” in any of his son’s foreign business deals, or for that matter that anything Hunter Biden did in his foreign business dealings was a crime. The president’s son’s current legal woes, which are focused on his nonpayment of taxes and a possibly illegal gun purchase, do not directly involve any of his work in Ukraine or any other foreign country.
To impeach Joe Biden for “bribery,” it would appear the members of Congress would need to prove that he was bribed, and they have not done so. They have found an FBI document in which a witness made a claim that the president and his son each received $5 million, but they haven’t come close to proving that the allegation is true.
Per the story, “Republicans hope an impeachment inquiry will give them the ability to uncover evidence the party has yet to get its hands on”- which indicates they have not uncovered such evidence yet.
There is some skepticism about that impeachment plan, per a Republican strategist who also spoke with that outlet.
“It’s stupid. It’s completely made up. They don’t have anything,” longtime Republican strategist Susan Del Percio, a veteran of Rudy Giuliani’s mayoral administration, told The Messenger. “This is not about impeachment for cause. This is a political stunt. And I have a feeling it’s going to go very badly for Republicans.”
Some Republicans have hinted that they will invoke the “motion to vacate” process, should Speaker McCarthy not go along with their plans for impeachment. However, the month of September will also be the time that Congress has to negotiate on budget levels in order to avoid a government shutdown.
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Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
