Aviva Fried / Photo credits: JEMAL COUNTESS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
The House of Representatives, where the Republicans are in the majority, voted in favor of opening an investigation, with a view to the impeachment of Joe Biden. Elected officials believe that the president would be involved in shady affairs linked to his son Hunter. The president described this decision as a “basely political maneuver”.
The US Congress on Wednesday approved the opening of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, motivated by his son’s controversial affairs abroad, and described as a “basely political maneuver” by the president. This procedure has almost no chance of succeeding, but could turn into a headache for the White House before the presidential election in November 2024, for which Joe Biden is a candidate.
An investigation carried out since September
This is a great victory for the Republicans: all the representatives of their party voted to open this investigation while all the Democrats opposed it. This was a formality since the committee in charge has already been investigating since September. But the White House refused to cooperate, which allowed Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to convince even the most reluctant in his party.
This is not the start of the impeachment procedure, but of an investigation that could lead to it. For the moment, no connection between Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business in Ukraine or China has been established. Hunter Biden, who refused to testify before the investigating committee, defended his father. “There is nothing to prove that my father was financially involved in my affairs, because that is not true,” he said.
An embarrassing situation for Biden
All this is embarrassing for Joe Biden, especially since it gives dream arguments to his future Republican opponent, undoubtedly Donald Trump, whose supporters in Congress lobbied to trigger this investigation. But if it does not succeed, it could also push moderate voters to reject Republicans perceived as too partisan.