In a recent interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that there is a strong likelihood that President Joe Biden has committed impeachable offenses.
The statement comes after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched a formal impeachment inquiry in September, focusing on whether the president’s actions were influenced by his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
According to McCarthy, President Biden faced “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption,” which warranted further investigation. The inquiry aimed to determine if the evidence would lead to an impeachment trial.
White House Denies Wrongdoing
President Biden has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and White House spokesperson Ian Sams emphasized that “House Republicans have been investigating the president for nine months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so.”
Joe Biden Bribery Claims
During the interview, Speaker Johnson expressed his commitment to following due process and the rule of law. He stated last week, “The reason we shifted to the impeachment inquiry stage on the president himself was because if, in fact, all the evidence leads to where we believe it will, that’s very likely impeachable offenses.”
Johnson pointed out that the Constitution lists bribery as a cause for impeachment, and he believes that some of the evidence “looks and smells a lot like that.
While acknowledging public anticipation regarding impeachment, Speaker Johnson emphasized the importance of an evidence-based approach. He stated, “I know people are getting anxious and they’re getting restless and they just want somebody to be impeached, but we don’t do that like the other team. We have to base it on the evidence.”
Greater Confidence Under Speaker Johnson
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, who introduced the motion to remove Kevin McCarthy from office, described the previous impeachment inquiry as “failure theater.” Gaetz, however, expressed greater confidence in the impeachment process under Speaker Johnson. He believes that Johnson will approach the matter as a lawyer rather than “a desperate person trying to cling to power.”
$200,000 Check Claims
On October 20, Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer shared an image of a $200,000 check sent to Joe Biden by his brother James Biden in 2018. The check was connected to “shady” loans totaling $600,000 from a hospital firm, with claims that the Biden name could secure a “large investment from the Middle East.”
In response, White House oversight and investigations spokesperson Ian Sams clarified that the money was marked as a loan repayment. Sams asserted that the check represented a repayment from when President Biden had loaned money to his brother in 2018 when he was out of office.
The Biden family has also been subject to a slew of other bribery allegations, including suggestions the family and its business associates received $20 million in payments from foreign actors in Russia, China, Ukraine, and Romania.
The discussions surrounding a potential impeachment of President Biden continue to evolve as Speaker Mike Johnson takes the reins in the Republican Party, emphasizing an evidence-based and law-abiding approach to the matter.
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
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