Now it is official. Or more official. Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for years to determine whether his business dealings could influence the President of the United States, Joe Biden. Since they took control of the House of Representatives last January, the offensive has intensified. Then, in March, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered the opening of a formal impeachment inquiry. Now the plenary has agreed to the same thing, but gave the investigation more formality and more legitimacy for filing motions and subpoenas. What remains to be seen is solid evidence that the president benefited from his family's businesses, let alone that he committed a crime or illegal act.
The plenary vote came after a bitter debate between representatives of both parties. Democrats have accused their rivals of trying to cover up their failure to pass measures since taking the House majority nearly a year ago. Republicans have continued to express their distrust of the Bidens. “This is all an extreme political maneuver. It has no credibility, legitimacy or integrity. It is a spectacle,” Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern said during the floor debate in a statement reported by AP.
The resolution adopted by the full House directs “certain commissions to continue their ongoing investigations” into “whether there are sufficient grounds for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional authority to impeach Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America.” and for other purposes,” the text says. In its articles, it gives the commissions the power to conduct subpoenas, applications, interrogations and hearings.
The Republicans came together and even made it clear that this was not yet an impeachment trial or a political trial against the president himself, but a preliminary investigation. The resolution passed with 221 Republican votes in favor and 212 Democratic votes against.
The White House immediately responded to the House vote with a statement in which Joe Biden denounced Republican inaction to approve aid to Ukraine and Israel or take other relevant domestic policy actions. “I wake up every day focused on the issues facing the American people, real issues that impact their lives and the strength and security of our country and the world. “Unfortunately, the Republicans in the House of Representatives are not on my side,” the president said.
“Instead of doing something to improve the lives of Americans, they focus on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their work on the urgent work that needs to be done, they would rather waste time on this baseless political ploy that even Republicans in Congress admit is unsupported by facts. “The American people deserve better,” Biden added, recalling how Republicans lost weeks in the chaos surrounding McCarthy’s firing and replacement as speaker and also became embroiled in the expulsion of Congressman George Santos on corruption and lying charges .
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In the morning, before the meeting, Hunter Biden appeared in front of the Capitol. He was asked to testify before commissions investigating a connection between his businesses and his father, but the president's son refused to testify behind closed doors and offered to attend a public hearing, which Republicans rejected.
Hunter Biden was blunt: “My father did not participate financially in my businesses, either as a practicing attorney or as a member of the board of Burisma [una empresa energética ucrania]“Nor in my association with a Chinese private entrepreneur, nor in my investments at home or abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” he said. “In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that this is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond absurd and shameless. “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father had a financial interest in my company because that did not happen,” he added.
In September, McCarthy did not dare to present the inquiry to the full House, believing that moderate Republicans elected in competitive districts would turn their backs on him, seeing no reason for such a move. Now the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has succeeded in getting his party's congressmen to join forces under pressure from Donald Trump.
The former president wants impeachment proceedings against Biden at all costs, partly as revenge for the two political trials he had to endure as president, partly as a countermeasure to the trials in which he is impeached, with the elections of November 5, 2025 on Horizon. The Republicans' strategy is to extend the investigation against Biden until shortly before the election.
In a recent statement, the White House called the entire trial a “baseless fishing expedition” that Republicans continued “even though members of their own party have admitted that there is no evidence to support the impeachment of President Biden.”
Congressional investigators have obtained nearly 40,000 pages of bank records through subpoenas and have dozens of hours of testimony from key witnesses, including several senior Justice Department officials currently in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation. Hunter Biden is charged with three felony counts in Delaware for illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while addicted to drugs and another nine felony counts in California for tax fraud after a failed plea deal that he agreed to admit would not have resulted in his incarceration. What has not been found, however, is the current president's connection to his son's alleged crimes.
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