A parliamentary hearing on US President Joe Biden's son, a popular target of Republican opposition, turned into a duel on Wednesday after Hunter Biden's surprise appearance.
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A House committee this morning discussed a resolution aimed at finding the 50-year-old guilty of obstructing the investigative powers of Congress when he broke into Congress accompanied by his lawyer.
Hunter Biden, who faces two criminal charges including one for tax fraud, is accused by conservatives of making questionable deals in Ukraine and China by exploiting his father's networks and name.
He is also criticized by Republicans for his refusal to take part in a closed congressional hearing on his financial interests abroad – Hunter Biden, for his part, is demanding a public hearing.
“Fear”?
“Who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today?” said Nancy Mace, Republican-elect from South Carolina.
“You are the embodiment of white privilege, coming here before the committee, spitting in our faces and ignoring a parliamentary subpoena that is supposed to be heard. What are you afraid of? “You have no guts,” she even went so far as to tell the president’s son.
“We can hear it now. Let's vote and listen to Hunter Biden. What are you afraid of?” one Democratic elected official responded.
Arizona Republican-elect Andy Biggs then intervened, sternly warning his colleagues to stop interrupting each other and to stop acting like “a bunch of idiots.”
Shortly afterwards, as Trump-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene prepared to speak, Hunter Biden left the room.
“What a coward,” she commented.
Outside, Abbe Lowell, the lawyer for the president's son, accused Republicans of trying to use him to reach his father, a re-election candidate. In the November election, Mr Biden is likely to face the right's big favorite, Donald Trump.
Republicans are trying to pass a resolution against “someone who offered to publicly answer all of their questions.” The question here is: What are they afraid of?'' Mr. Lowell told the cameras.
hostilities
At the same time, another committee held a hearing on a possible impeachment of Mr Biden's Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is accused by the American right of being responsible for the “migrant crisis” at the US-Mexico border.
Mr. Mayorkas was not present.
“The evidence we have makes it clear: Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of the devastation we have been witnessing for nearly three years,” Tennessee Republican-elect Mark Green denounced at the opening of the hearing.
In December, nearly 10,000 migrants from Mexico arrived at the U.S. border every day, a record and, according to conservatives, “a humanitarian disaster.”
The American executive emphasizes that its request for an additional $14 billion to secure the border has been blocked in Congress for months.
In order for Alejandro Mayorkas to be removed from office, a majority of representatives in the House of Representatives must first vote on his impeachment before the Senate, which in turn must find a two-thirds majority to complete the process.
A practically impossible scenario, considering that Republicans have a very narrow majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate has a Democratic majority.
With these hearings, Republicans are intensifying hostilities against the Democratic president in this election year.
Conservatives in the House of Representatives have also initiated impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden, accusing him of using his influence as Barack Obama's vice president (2009-2017) to enable his son Hunter to do business in China and Ukraine.
The president, his son and the Democrats strongly deny these allegations.