Washington:

US House of Representatives Republicans issued a report on Monday alleging Democratic President Joe Biden committed impeachable offences, but it was unclear whether they would push for a vote following a probe the White House has long dismissed as politically motivated.

A 291-page report by three House committees alleged that Biden profited from an influence-peddling scheme to enrich himself and members of his family through foreign business dealings beginning in 2014 when Biden was vice president.

“The committees present this information to the House of Representatives for its evaluation and consideration of appropriate next steps,” the report said.

It was not clear if Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would schedule a vote to impeach Biden in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 election, in which Republican Donald Trump is locked in a tight battle with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Even if the Republican-controlled House were to pass such a measure, it would be unlikely to remove Biden from office, given that he would need to be convicted by a Senate controlled 51-49 by his own Democratic Party. Biden, who withdrew his own reelection bid last month, is due to leave office when his successor is sworn in on Jan. 20.

A similar House impeachment against Biden’s top border official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was put to a swift end by the Senate in April.

The House investigators claim that Biden used his influence to benefit the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, with partners from Ukraine, China, Russia and other countries.

Hunter Biden has been convicted on charges that he lied about his illegal drug use to buy a gun and is awaiting trial on charges of tax evasion, including an allegation that he accepted payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to influence U.S. government agencies in connection with a criminal probe in Romania.

The impeachment inquiry, which lawmakers formally authorized last December and has been carried out by the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways & Means Committees, has been criticized by members of both parties for failing to produce hard evidence of wrongdoing by Biden.

Democrats have disparaged the effort as retribution for Trump, who was impeached twice by a Democratic-controlled House and acquitted each time by the Senate. The first impeachment alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to help smear Joe Biden in return for US aid.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Reacting to the indictment of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called it a “fig leaf” designed to divert attention.

He also stated that the impeachment inquiry that has been started against the President by the House is a “step in the right direction”.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mr Ramaswamy said, “Today’s indictment of Hunter Biden is a smokescreen. Don’t fall for it. This is a fig leaf designed to deflect attention away from the real problem: the Biden family is selling out US foreign policy for their own family’s private financial gain”.

“That’s really what’s wrong, and we must hold politicians in both major political parties when they use our foreign policy to enrich their family members,” he added.

He further said that it is no accident that Hunter’s indictment comes when President Biden’s own popularity within the Democratic Party is “cratering”.

“The impeachment inquiry initiated by the House against President Biden is a step in the right direction, but the public shouldn’t fall for the trick of diverting attention away from the true problem. It’s also no accident that today’s indictment comes at a moment when President Biden’s own popularity within the Democratic Party is cratering. I predict this is the first step for the Democrat Party managerial class to pressure Joe Biden out of the race. Biden will become a sacrificial pawn in service to the deep state that wants to keep power at all costs,” Mr Ramaswamy further said.

President Biden’s son Hunter Biden was indicted on Thursday on three counts of illegally possessing a firearm while being addicted to drugs, reported the New York Post.

The charges against Hunter can carry up to 25 years in prison and could further form the first of multiple criminal cases. Hunter, who is 53, may also face tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying counts in DC and Los Angeles, according to the New York Post.

He was also accused of lying about his drug use on a gun purchase form in 2018 when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver.

Meanwhile, Speaker Kevin McCarthy authorised House committees on Tuesday to launch a formal impeachment probe on US President Joe Biden based on the House GOP’s investigations into his family’s foreign business ties and the prosecution of his son Hunter Biden, The Hill reported.

McCarthy stated that the investigation will be overseen by House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky), in collaboration with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo).

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Washington:

The Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, bowed to pressure from his party’s hard right Tuesday and gave the go-ahead for an impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden. 

“I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry,” he said, saying the Democratic president lied to the American people about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings. 

“House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations about President Biden’s conduct,” he said. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”

The business dealings of Joe Biden’s son Hunter while his father was vice president under Barack Obama have been a constant target of Republicans.

No credible evidence has emerged so far, however, that the elder Biden was involved in anything illegal.

Kevin McCarthy has been under pressure from the right-wing of the party, loyal to Donald Trump, for months to open an impeachment inquiry into 80-year-old Joe Biden.

The White House immediately condemned the move, calling it “extreme politics at its worst.”

“House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Kevin McCarthy, who was forced to compromise with the far-right of the party to win his powerful speaker’s post, said the “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” against Biden “warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.”

Democratic lawmakers have denounced the move as a purely partisan exercise intended to exact revenge for the double impeachment by the House of former Republican President Donald Trump.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)