“Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday launched an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden… Republicans, who now narrowly control the House, have accused Biden of profiting while he served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 from his son Hunter Biden's foreign business ventures.” Reuters
The right generally supports the impeachment inquiry, arguing that there is clear evidence of misconduct.
“While Biden since 2020 repeatedly denied knowledge of or involvement in his son’s business dealings, Republicans have since shown that he spoke to his son’s business associates dozens of times and, according to a witness account, had dinner with an executive from Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm, after that executive had asked Hunter Biden, point blank, to ‘use your influence’ to shield Burisma from investigations. It is further alleged that Biden himself communicated with his son and his son’s associates through a pseudonymous email account…
“The best defense Biden could make, which isn’t particularly flattering (or convincing), is that he was somehow unwittingly duped by his son into becoming the prop in a lucrative global influence-peddling operation and lied about his role because he was too embarrassed about it. But the even more alarming possibility is that the elder Biden not only was aware of what his son was actually up to and closely involved but enriched himself and may have even been bribed to influence U.S. foreign policy.”
The Editors, National Review
“Listen, I get that Democrats want us to believe it was just crazy happenstance that Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor who happened to be investigating a company that was paying his son $1 million a year. But if the vice president knew the two were in business — and since he had a sit down with Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi, it is highly likely he did — then his actions were a corrupt conflict of interest, at the very least…
“Democrats want to create new evidentiary standards for both congressional investigations and for impeachment… Recall that Democrats claimed without evidence for years that Donald Trump was a Russian asset. To say there is more evidence of Biden’s wrongdoing than was offered in any story connected to Trump-Russia collusion, a hysteria based on leaks, anonymous sources, and fictitious works of political opposition, is to dramatically understate the matter.”
David Harsanyi, The Federalist
“For those complaining about Republican politicking, turnabout is surely fair play. Former President Donald Trump was impeached not once but twice; neither time did Democrats so much as allege a statutory crime. They relied on the fact that impeachment is a political response, not a criminal one — true as far as it goes, but precedent-setting in the context of prior impeachments. They pursued impeachment inquiries without so much as a vote in the House. The genie is out of the bottle, and it isn't going back in anytime soon.”
Ben Shapiro, Creators
Some argue, “McCarthy would have been better off doing nothing and letting Comer and the other chairmen plow ahead… If the speaker doesn’t have the votes for a mere impeachment inquiry, it’s highly unlikely he will ever have the votes for impeachment articles. And now that McCarthy has crossed the impeachment Rubicon, at least rhetorically, Biden and his supporters will claim victory if there are no impeachment articles.”
Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
The left opposes the impeachment inquiry, arguing that there is no evidence personally implicating Joe Biden.
The left opposes the impeachment inquiry, arguing that there is no evidence personally implicating Joe Biden.
“The inquiry Mr. McCarthy announced this week is not costless. He’s helping to create a new norm of tit-for-tat retaliation… Democrats are not blameless. Some on the far left tried to impeach President George W. Bush on unreasonable grounds. Some Democrats also wanted to impeach President Donald Trump practically from day one of his term. Yet, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) held them back until firm evidence emerged in 2019 showing that Mr. Trump tried to shake down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by holding up vital military assistance…
“No evidence has so far emerged that the president committed anything close to a high crime or misdemeanor worthy of removal from office. There’s ample evidence that his son Hunter profited from their shared last name and that Mr. Biden, as vice president, attended dinners with his son’s clients, which shows poor judgment. It has also become clear that Mr. Biden knew more about his son’s business dealings than he previously claimed. But there is no smoking gun directly linking Joe Biden to Hunter Biden’s alleged wrongdoing.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post
"One key piece of evidence Republicans have cited from [Hunter Biden’s business partner Devon] Archer’s testimony is that Biden participated in roughly 20 phone calls with Hunter’s business contacts. However, Archer stressed those encounters consisted of small talk like the weather and not issues of substance. Archer also testified that he hadn’t seen President Biden attempt to use his office to help Hunter advance his career…
“The inquiry appears driven more by the House GOP’s internal dynamics and political goals than the substance of the allegations… Impeachment could also be a way for Republicans on the campaign trail to suggest that Biden and Trump are both facing legal scrutiny even though the two cases are not comparable at all. By initiating an inquiry, Republicans can attempt to muddy the waters when it comes to how Biden is perceived, arguing that the two candidates both come with ethical baggage.”
Li Zhou, Vox
"The Hunter Biden episode is certainly sleazy. But it does not involve any official action Joe Biden has taken, nor does it concern anything he has done while serving as president…
“What’s more, it is a pale imitation of the wanton personal corruption undertaken by the Trump family… To take just one example, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, collected $2 billion in investment from a Saudi-run firm, even though the firm’s financial experts registered deep concerns over his experience and general ability…
“Whataboutism isn’t a good defense of anything, and it wouldn’t justify Hunter Biden’s less flagrant but still gross behavior. But whataboutism is the main point of impeaching Biden. This whole exercise is intended to use Hunter Biden’s ordinary corruption to legitimize Trump’s extraordinary corruption. We don’t need to pretend otherwise when Republicans already told us.”
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
Chico the cockatoo would probably beat you in a scooter race.
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