Congress deepens investigations into President Biden

2023-09-12 20:57:28, Kosova & Bota CNA

Congress deepens investigations into President Biden

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday that lawmakers will launch investigations to determine whether there are grounds to impeach President Joe Biden, a further step in the probe into allegations that Mr. Biden benefited from the deals. son's business loan, Hunter Biden.

"These allegations are a reflection of a culture of corruption," Mr McCarthy told reporters.

"Our findings show that Mr. Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge of his family's business dealings with foreigners. There is testimony from people who were present that the president joined the phone calls, interacted on several occasions, had dinners through which his son and his business partners benefited from cars and millions of dollars," Mr. McCarthy told reporters. .

"We are aware of wire transfers of nearly $20 million to members of Mr. Biden's family and people connected to him through shell companies," Mr. McCarthy said.

He raised suspicions that Mr. Biden used the presidential office to coordinate these contacts and that they had received preferential treatment from his administration.

A series of committees of the House of Representatives have failed to find evidence to prove these suspicions.

White House spokesman Ian Sams wrote on the social platform X that "Republicans in the House of Representatives have been investigating the President for 9 months and have found no evidence of wrongdoing. The Republican members of the House of Representatives themselves have said such a thing. He vowed to hold an open vote to launch impeachment investigations, now changed his stance because he has no support. "Extreme politics is the worst," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, last week called the launch of the impeachment inquiry absurd.

The Republicans control the House of Representatives by a narrow margin of only 5 members over the Democrats. But some Republicans have expressed concern about launching an impeachment inquiry before the 2024 election.

Republican Congressman Ken Buck told NBC News on Sunday that “The impeachment inquiry into President Biden should begin when there is evidence of a serious crime or violation of the law. This thing does not exist so far".

The announcement of the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden also sets up a showdown between the Capitol and the White House, as lawmakers must reach a deal with the president to avoid a government shutdown as funding runs out on Sept. 30.

The House of Representatives has just a few business days left to call a session to pass a short-term resolution or risk a government shutdown.

If the government shuts down, the committees of the House of Representatives will not be able to work on the impeachment inquiry of the President.

The House speaker has faced increased pressure from conservative members of his caucus this summer after agreeing to a deal with the president to raise the debt ceiling.

"It's possible that the impeachment bill will never go to the Senate," Michael Thorning, director of democracy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told VOA. "With such a narrow majority, it's unclear if they will to go through with this. They certainly can't count on any support from the Democrats. And so they have to have the support of every member of theirs. And if they lose the support of just five of them, they won't be able to pass it. "

Even if the House of Representatives approves the impeachment inquiry document, it is unlikely that the Democratic-controlled Senate will support his trial./ VOA