House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Republicans' impeachment inquiry into President Biden in a new op-ed, arguing there was mounting evidence suggesting Biden was involved in his son Hunter's business dealings that "cannot be ignored."
A vote is scheduled Wednesday evening to formalize the House impeachment inquiry, which will allow the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to continue their investigations into the Biden family business dealings. Johnson argued a formal inquiry was necessary because the White House had withheld documents and emails showing then-Vice President Biden had used pseudonyms in emails to communicate with Hunter Biden.
Johnson said the impeachment inquiry would also continue to investigate President Biden's claims denying his alleged knowledge and involvement with his son's business dealings and associates.
"What is the president hiding?" Johnson asked in the USA Today piece.
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Opening a formal inquiry, "backed by a vote of the full body – puts us in the strongest legal position to gather the evidence and provide transparency to the American people," the Republican said.
He pointed to the previous impeachment inquiry hearing where House Republicans made the case that the Biden family brought in "over $15 million in their foreign influence peddling, over $24 million if you account for their associate's earnings from the schemes" by leveraging access to then-Vice President Biden. Johnson also claimed the White House and Biden had "lied multiple times" about his family's business dealings.
Johnson was adamant that this impeachment inquiry was not a political decision, and would not be taken "lightly." Republicans would be "transparent" and "methodical," he said, contrasting this approach with what he called Democrats' "abuse" of the process with former President Trump.
"I served on the impeachment defense team of former President Donald Trump on both occasions when House Democrats abused the process. Their efforts in 2019 employed the shortest proceedings, compiled the thinnest evidentiary record and used the narrowest grounds ever to impeach a president," Johnson claimed.
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At a press conference on Tuesday, Johnson made a similar argument, telling reporters that Republicans had "no choice" because they have been stonewalled by the White House.
"We have no choice to fulfill our constitutional responsibility. We have to take the next step. We're not making a political decision. It's not. It's a legal decision," Johnson said at the House Republican Conference press conference on Tuesday. "So, people have feelings about it one way or the other. We can't prejudge the outcome. The Constitution does not permit us to do so. We have to follow the truth where it takes us and that is exactly what we're going to do."
Hunter Biden told reporters on Wednesday at Capitol Hill that his father was not "financially involved" in his businesses and would not comply with a Republican subpoena and be deposed by the House Oversight Committee.
"They belittled my recovery, and they have tried to dehumanize me, all to embarrass my father, who has devoted his entire life to public service," Hunter Biden said.
The White House has panned the impeachment inquiry into Biden as a waste of time.
"Their baseless fishing expedition targeting the President has been going on for an entire year and, over and over again, their allegations of wrongdoing by President Biden have been thoroughly debunked," White House spokesman Ian Sams said. "House Republicans have already proven this is an illegitimate exercise not rooted in facts and the truth but only in a political desire to smear the President with lies, and the American people see right through it."
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Fox News' Danielle Wallace, Brooke Singman and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
