House Republicans launched the first formal impeachment hearing on Thursday against 80-year-old President Joe Biden.
The House Republicans have promised to “provide accountability” as they look into the family finances and profitable overseas business dealings of his son Hunter Biden and make their case to the public, colleagues and the Senate.
Representative James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and the House Oversight chairman, said the lawmakers have “a mountain of evidence” that will show that President Biden “abused his public office for his family’s financial gain.”
Comer announced he was issuing subpoenas for additional banking records from both Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James Biden. He said the panel is planning to continue to “follow the money and the evidence to provide accountability.”
The Democratic Party pushed back against the timing of the impeachment inquiry.
When the hearing began, Democrats displayed a screen showing the days, hours and minutes left until the government shuts down as Congress continues to struggle to fund the government before Saturday’s deadline.
“We’re 62 hours away from shutting down the government of the United States of America and Republicans are launching an impeachment drive, based on a long debunked and discredited lie,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel.
If the government shuts down it will be due to both sides, not just the Republicans.
Raskin questioned the legitimacy of the hearing since the House has not voted to formally launch the impeachment inquiry. He said Republicans are bringing up five-year-old allegations that were brought up by Donald Trump during the former president’s 2019 impeachment over Ukraine.
