Republican-led House approves Biden impeachment inquiry led by Jim Jordan

WASHINGTON, D. C. – The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted along party lines to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into the Biden family’s business dealings that is being spearheaded by Ohio’s Jim Jordan and two other GOP committee chairs.

All Ohio Republicans backed the effort, while the state’s Democrats opposed it, saying that GOP efforts to dig up dirt on President Joe Biden have found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“This is hogwash, this is a big nothingburger, it is a complete waste of time and resources,” said Warrensville Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown, a member of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, which is conducting the impeachment inquiry along with Jordan’s Judiciary Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Missouri’s Jason Smith.

The three committees have already spent months examining whether President Joe Biden did anything improper to assist the business activities of his son, Hunter, and other family members. The House vote came hours after Hunter Biden declined to testify in a closed meeting with the three committees, telling reporters he wants to testify in an open session so Republicans can’t misrepresent his remarks

Hunter Biden, who is facing tax evasion charges for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 and gun charges for lying about being an addict when purchasing a firearm, conceded that he was “extremely irresponsible with my finances” during a battle with addiction, but called it “beyond absurd” for Republicans to use that as grounds to attack his father. His back taxes have since been paid.

“It’s shameless,” Hunter Biden said of the GOP inquiry. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen.”

Jordan said he thought it was interesting Hunter Biden stipulated that his father wasn’t financially involved with his business dealings, and that he believes that marks a change in Hunter Biden’s narrative.

“First, there was no involvement, then no one ever never talked to anyone, and then we find out about the dinners, the meetings, the phone calls everything else,” said Jordan, of Champaign County, pledging to move forward with contempt proceedings if Hunter Biden doesn’t testify before the committees.

Jordan and the other committee chairs have been digging into Biden family business dealings since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy authorized an impeachment inquiry in September. Jordan said Wednesday’s vote was needed to ensure greater cooperation from witnesses and better compliance with document requests.

“This is a story as old as the hills, you got a politician who does certain things, those actions then benefit his family financially, and then there’s an effort to conceal it and sweep it under the rug,” Jordan said on the House of Representatives floor. “When you have a majority of the House of Representatives go on record, that sends a message.”

Republicans who voted for the inquiry, such as Rocky River’s Max Miller, stressed it was not an actual vote on impeachment.

“The White House has been stonewalling Chairman Jordan and (Oversight Committee Chairman James) Comer on some of the details and information that they need,” Miller said before the vote. “This isn’t an impeachment vote. This is an inquiry, to go ahead and get more information.”

The White House dismisses the impeachment inquiry as a “baseless stunt” that’s “not rooted in facts or reality but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear President Biden,” in the words of spokesperson Ian Sams.

“If they press onwards with this baseless fishing expedition, it only proves how divorced from reality this sham investigation is, and will come at the expense of meaningful work to actually address the issues the American people care about, like lowering costs, creating jobs, and strengthening our health care,” said a statement from Sams.

Sabrina Eaton writes about the federal government and politics in Washington, D.C., for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.