The House Oversight Committee will hold its first hearing on Thursday, Sept. 28 in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The hearing is expected to focus on “constitutional and legal questions” surrounding the allegations of Biden’s involvement in his son Hunter’s overseas businesses, according to a spokesperson for the Oversight Committee.
Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have contended that Biden’s actions from his time as vice president show a “culture of corruption” and that his son used the “Biden brand” to advance his business with foreign clients. “Once all the i’s are dotted, t’s are crossed, I expect to issue a subpoena to Hunter and James Biden’s personal bank records,” Comer said as he left the House GOP conference meeting Tuesday.”
McCarthy appointed Comer to lead the inquiry in coordination with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith. The spokesperson also said that chairman of Oversight, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), plans to issue subpoenas for the personal and business bank records of Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden “as early as this week.”
Comer also said the hearing would include an overview of what an impeachment inquiry is and would feature appearances from experts on financial crimes, tax evasion, racketeering and the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
The White House has called the effort by House Republicans in the midst of the presidential campaign “extreme politics at its worst.”
“Staging a political stunt hearing in the waning days before they may shut down the government reveals their true priorities: To them, baseless personal attacks on President Biden are more important than preventing a government shutdown and the pain it would inflict on American families,” Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday.
McCarthy launched the inquiry within the House vote and it’s unclear if he will have enough support to approve it from his slim GOP majority. Some lawmakers have criticized the evidence so far as not reaching the Constitution’s bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Republicans have focused much of their attention on an unverified tip to the FBI that alleged a bribery scheme involving Biden during his time as vice president. The bribery claim emerged during former president Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 and relates to the allegation that Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor in order to stop an investigation into Burisma, the oil and gas company where Hunter Biden was part of the board.
Democrats have countered that the Justice Department investigated the Burisma claim when Trump was president and closed the matter after eight months due to insufficient evidence to pursue it further. Other countries were also pushing for the firing of the Ukrainian official for viewing him as corrupt. A former business partner of Hunter Biden’s has testified to Congress that the bribery allegations are untrue.
