Elected representatives of the Republican Party particularly accuse the Democrat of using his influence as Barack Obama's vice president.
“Joe Biden has repeatedly lied to the American people.” This is how the chairman of the powerful House of Representatives investigative committee, James Comer, justified the formal opening of an impeachment investigation against the American president. This was approved by the American Congress on Wednesday, December 13th.
This decision allows the continuation of the year-long investigation by the Republican Party, which has failed to prove the existence of a serious crime or misdemeanor. The impeachment inquiry, passed solely by their votes, will give them additional powers and therefore new opportunities to implicate the Democratic leader.
While this approach has almost no chance of success, it could become a headache for the White House ahead of the November 2024 presidential election in which Joe Biden is running. Franceinfo explains why the American president is being targeted by conservatives.
Because he is accused of having favored his son's activities
The Republican investigation has so far focused heavily on 53-year-old Hunter Biden. Joe Biden's son, who was first a lawyer and then a businessman, turned to painting after recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. He is a favorite target of his father's Republican opponents – most notably Donald Trump – who consider him the Democratic president's Achilles heel. Conservatives particularly accuse Joe Biden of using his influence during his time as Barack Obama's vice president (from 2009 to 2017).
The Republican camp particularly denounces the business dealings of the Democratic leader's youngest son in China. They blame Hunter Biden for doing this “Used his name” to get these contracts and accused his father of “letting him do it.” Conservatives also accuse Joe Biden of having a Ukrainian prosecutor fired to protect the gas company Burisma from prosecution for corruption. However, Hunter Biden accepted a position as a director of the group in 2014 in exchange for generous compensation.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden sought to clear his father of any involvement in his controversial affairs. “Let me say this as clearly as possible: my father was never financially involved in my business,” he told Congress in a serious tone. “Not when I was a lawyer, not when I was on the board of Burisma, not when I did business with a Chinese, not when I made investments here or abroad, and certainly not when I was an artist,” he said listed.
The Republicans accuse him of interfering in the investigation
Hunter Biden is also the target of two federal investigations. He is being prosecuted for making a false statement when purchasing a gun in 2018 and claiming he did not use illegal drugs during his drug addiction. He is also accused of tax fraud. According to the indictment, Joe Biden's son was “engaged in a scheme” that allowed him to avoid $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019. “The resulting back taxes have now been paid,” the Washington Post said in early December.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel in August to lead the investigation into Hunter Biden. David Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump, but Republicans have accused the Biden administration of interfering in the investigation into his son. The latter agreed in June to plead guilty with David Weiss, which would likely have spared him a prison sentence and an embarrassing trial for him and his father. However, that agreement was overturned after a judge expressed doubts about its validity in July.
During an attorney general hearing in September, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican, said: again criticized the minister for appointing “the man he knows will protect Joe Biden.” The minister assured that the prosecutor would have complete freedom in conducting his investigations.
Because confidential documents were found in his garage
In late 2022, confidential documents were found in a “locked cabinet” in Joe Biden's former office at the Penn Biden Center, a Washington-based think tank, as well as in the garage of a private residence of the President of the United States, in Wilmington, Delaware. These documents date from the period when Joe Biden was vice president, between 2009 and 2017, when Barack Obama led the country.
However, a 1978 law requires American presidents and vice presidents to submit all of their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives, which is responsible for recording the president's activities for history. For Joe Biden, this is a “mistake.” But the justice minister announced the opening of an investigation and re-announced the appointment of an independent special prosecutor, Robert Hur. Joe Biden was interviewed in this case in October.
In a similar case, Republicans regret that charges are being brought against Donald Trump. He appeared in federal court this summer on charges that he took confidential documents from his luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, at the end of his term in January 2021. Even though the cases of the 45th and 46th Presidents of the United States are not really comparable, Republican James Comer announced that the House of Representatives “has criticized President Biden's inappropriate handling of classified documents and the 'Backwater's' efforts to hide , will investigate “this information”.