Politics at its Worst. The Biden Impeachment Inquiry.

Earlier this month Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy directed the House of Representatives to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. According to McCarthy, “House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct. Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption”.
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These are serious allegations. Is there any truth to them, or just the actions of a group of House Republicans attempting to damage the President in the runup to the 2024 presidential election? Let’s examine the allegations and the implications for President Biden. Does Donald Trump factor into any of this, and what are Kevin McCarthy’s true motivations behind his impeachment inquiry into Biden?

The Allegations: During a September 12, 2023 news conference Speaker McCarthy outlined the following charges against President Biden: 

1. President Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings.
2. The President joined in on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners, resulting in cars and millions of dollars [being given] to his son and his son’s business partners. Nearly $20 million in payments were directed to Biden family members and associates through various shell companies.
3. A trusted FBI informant has “alleged” a bribe to the Biden family.
4. Biden used his official office [Vice-President at the time] to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
5. It appears that the President’s family had been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration. Treatment that not otherwise would have [been] received if they were not related to the President.

Speaker McCarthy went on to say that “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.” The investigation will be led by Chairman James Comer of the Committee of Oversight in coordination with Chairman Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee, and Chairman James Smith of the Ways and Means Committee.  

A Little Background:  The President’s son Hunter has gone through a much-publicized period of his life addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. Hunter is currently in recovery and we wish him well. Let’s just say that Hunter was not a model citizen during this period of his life.
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Hunter Biden has been under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware since 2018, looking into his foreign business dealings, amongst other things. The investigation uncovered the fact that Hunter failed to pay taxes on approximately $1.5 million in undeclared income he earned from his foreign business activities. He subsequently paid the income taxes and penalties, and in June of this year plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges.  
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The U.S attorney’s investigation also discovered that Hunter had made false statements on an application to purchase a firearm, and illegally purchased a firearm while addicted to drugs. These gun charges have led to Hunter being indicted on three felony counts earlier this month.  

President Biden loves his son and is very protective of him. The Republicans know this, and the cynic in me believes that they sense that the President is vulnerable because of this relationship and will try to exploit it. In other words, they are attempting to damage Joe Biden through the dealings of his troubled son.

Basis for the Allegations Against Joe Biden: Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China have been extensively reported on over the past few years. Hunter details his foreign business deals in his 2022 book “Beautiful Things, A Memoir”.  Hunter Biden also provided information about his foreign business dealings in court testimony during his trial for tax evasion. This information is not new, but more importantly, there has never been any proof that Hunter Biden’s activities or those of other Biden family members were linked to Joe Biden.

For several months the House Oversight Committee has been conducting an investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business activities. The Committee is also looking into the financial and business dealings of other Biden family members. The Committee’s intent is “to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality.” The witness testimony during the Congressional investigation didn’t provide any direct link between President Biden and his son’s business activities, but it nonetheless formed the basis of Speaker McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry. 

Where is the Crime? Let’s look at the allegations one at a time.

1. During the 2020 presidential campaign Joe Biden said that he and Hunter never discussed business, and never discussed Hunter’s foreign business deals. During a 2020 presidential debate against Donald Trump, Joe Biden said that Hunter never made money from business deals in China. These statements proved to be false. Hunter Biden has admitted discussing his role as a director of a Ukrainian energy company with his father, and witness testimony has placed Joe Biden at dinners with Hunter’s business associates and on telephone conference calls with them.  Joe Biden has been less than honest with the American people about what he knew about his son’s foreign business dealings. But unless you are under oath, lying is not a crime. Stretching the truth during a political campaign is almost a given for most politicians.  
2. According to Congressional witness testimony, Joe Biden did participate in some dinners and phone calls with his son’s business associates. I don’t think that there is any dispute here.  But there is no evidence that business was ever discussed. McCarthy’s assertions that Joe Biden was present when million-dollar transactions were being discussed is pure conjecture. There is no proof that Joe Biden knew or benefited from any foreign business deals with Hunter or his business associates. It is true that Hunter and other Biden family members made money from foreign business deals, but there is no shred of evidence that Joe Biden was the beneficiary of any of the money.  
3. An informant gave a tip to the FBI in 2020 alleging that the Biden family was given a bride. This was just an allegation with no corroboration or evidence. The informant has testified that he was just reporting something that he had been told by a Ukrainian businessman.
4. It is true that Hunter Biden was paid by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to sit on its board of directors. This took place while Joe Biden was Vice-President of the United States. Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen, and has the right to work for any organization that he wishes. His work for Burisma was not arranged by Joe Biden and there is no evidence that he benefited from his son’s position on its board.    
5. McCarthy claims that the President’s family has received special treatment from the Biden Administration. I assume that he is talking about the plea deal Hunter received in June to resolve the tax and gun charges filed against him. House Republicans have called this a “sweetheart” deal, but have no evidence that the Biden Administration had anything to do with the deal. The plea deal has subsequently unraveled, so the point is mute anyway.  

​Impeachment as a Political Weapon: The allegations against President Biden seem pretty thin, but that’s beside the point. A handful of House Republicans on the extreme-right had vowed to impeach President Biden as soon they took over leadership of the House of Representatives. Kevin McCarthy is beholden to these hard-liners for voting him in as Speaker. In order for McCarthy to move ahead with his agenda, not the least of which is a spending bill to fund the government, he must appease his right wing. More importantly, if McCarthy had not moved ahead with the impeachment inquiry there was a real possibility that he would lose his speakership.

The extreme right within the Republican Party has pledged its fealty to Donald Trump, not to Kevin McCarthy. It has been reported that Donald Trump has privately discussed the impeachment of Joe Biden with House Republicans. In a recent interview with Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump suggested that the impeachment inquiry is payback for the Democrats impeaching him twice. “They did it to me,” Trump told Megyn Kelly during an hourlong interview on SiriusXM radio. “And had they not done it to me, I think, and nobody officially said this, but I think had they not done it to me … perhaps you wouldn’t have it being done to them.”
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During several campaign rallies this summer Trump has been pushing for the impeachment of Joe Biden, and has threatened Republicans by stating that “Republicans in Congress that don’t act on Biden, they should be immediately primaried and get out”. Donald Trump is out for revenge and he has plenty of loyal foot soldiers to do his bidding. 

Impact on Joe Biden: There is slim possibility that the House of Representatives will vote to impeach President Biden. Even if they did, he would not be convicted in the Democrat controlled Senate. Nonetheless, House Republicans have succeeded in appeasing Donald Trump, creating a distraction for President Biden, and may even have convinced some voters that he is guilty by association with his son’s sketchy foreign activities.

The 2024 presidential election is going to be close, and one more vulnerability for Joe Biden, no matter how small or inaccurate, doesn’t bode well. It creates more grey clouds over his campaign in what is already gearing up to be a stormy election.
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Hunter Biden benefitted handsomely off his famous last name. This may be unseemly, but it is not illegal. Joe Biden has no one to blame but himself for his current predicament. Yes, the House Republicans are acting shamelessly, but that’s politics. Biden should have stifled his son’s ambitions about becoming an international business and political consultant before it started. Joe Biden has too much political experience, as well as intimate knowledge of his son’s weaknesses, not to have kept Hunter on a tight leash. President Biden is not guilty of the allegations leveled against him by Speaker McCarthy. But he is guilty of letting the love for his son cloud his better judgment.

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Thanks,
Armchair American
September 25, 2023