US House authorises impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden

The president's son, Hunter Biden, said he will only testify in public, defying a Republican congressional subpoena. ITV News' Robert Moore reports from Washington DC

The House has authorised the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,

Every Republican rallied behind the politically charged process, despite lingering concerns among some in the party that the investigation has yet to produce evidence of misconduct by the president.

The 221-212 party-line vote put the entire House Republican conference on record in support of an impeachment process that can lead to the ultimate penalty for a president - punishment for what the Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanours,” which can lead to removal from office if convicted in a Senate trial.

“We do not take this responsibility lightly and will not prejudge the investigation’s outcome,” Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team said in a joint statement after the vote. “But the evidentiary record is impossible to ignore.”

Authorising the months-long inquiry ensures that the impeachment investigation extends well into 2024, when Mr Biden will be running for reelection and seems likely to be squaring off against former President Donald Trump — who was twice impeached during his time in the White House.

Trump has pushed his GOP allies in Congress to move swiftly on impeaching Biden, part of his broader calls for vengeance and retribution against his political enemies.

Republicans say their inquiry is ultimately focused on the president himself, but they have taken particular interest in his son Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings, from which they accuse the president of personally benefiting.

They claim Hunter Biden is "in more trouble" after he insisted he will only testify in public, defying a congressional subpoena. He had previously agreed to appear in court in private.

Senior Republicans have said they will start to look at contempt of Congress proceedings in response to Hunter Biden’s lack of cooperation. 

However, Hunter Biden said Republicans don't want an open process allowing Americans to “see their tactics” and “expose their baseless inquiry.”

On the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday, Hunter Biden broke his silence and gave an emotional response to those pursuing him and his father.

He said: "They have lied over and over about every aspect of my personal and professional life. So much so, that their lies have become the false facts believed by too many people.

"And they have taken the light of my dad's love for me and presented it as darkness. They have no shame."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden was familiar with what his son would say and that the Bidens are proud of their son.

The vote came as House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team face growing pressure to show progress in what has become a nearly year-long probe centered around the business dealings of President Biden's family members.

While their investigation has raised ethical questions, no evidence has emerged that Mr Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous office as vice president.

In a recent statement, the White House called the whole process a “baseless fishing expedition” that Republicans are pushing ahead with “despite the fact that members of their own party have admitted there is no evidence to support impeaching President Biden.”

Some House Republicans, particularly those hailing from politically divided districts, have been hesitant to take any vote on Mr Biden's impeachment, fearing a significant political cost.

But GOP leaders have made the case in recent weeks that the resolution is only a step in the process, not a decision to impeach Mr Biden. That message seems to have won over sceptics.

House Democrats are unified in their opposition to the impeachment process, saying it is a farce used by the GOP to take attention away from Trump and his legal woes.

“You don’t initiate an impeachment process unless there’s real evidence of impeachable offenses,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, who oversaw the two impeachments into Trump. “There is none here. None.”

Democrats and the White House have defended the president and his administration's cooperation with the investigation thus far, saying it has already made a massive trove of documents available.

Congressional investigators have obtained nearly 40,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records, dozens of hours of testimony from key witnesses, including several high-ranking Justice Department officials currently tasked with investigating the president's son, Hunter Biden.

Republicans have also focused a large part of their investigation on whistleblower allegations of interference in the long-running Justice Department investigation into the younger Biden's taxes and his gun use.

Hunter Biden is currently facing criminal charges in two states from the special counsel investigation.

He’s charged with firearm counts in Delaware, alleging he broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction.

Special Counsel David Weiss filed additional charges last week, alleging he failed to pay about $1.4 million in taxes over a three-year period.

Democrats have conceded that while the president's son is not perfect, he is a private citizen who is already being held accountable by the justice system.

“I mean, there’s a lot of evidence that Hunter Biden did a lot of improper things. He’s been indicted, he’ll stand trial,” Nadler said. “There’s no evidence whatsoever that the president did anything improper.”

Hunter Biden arrived for a rare public statement outside the US Capitol on Wednesday, saying he would not be appearing for his scheduled private deposition that morning.

The president's son defended himself against years of GOP attacks and said definitely that his father has had no financial involvement in his business affairs.

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