Washington, Nov 15 (EFE).- The leader of the US House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, said this Wednesday that the impeachment investigation against the country’s president, Joe Biden, has already shown that his family has engaged in corrupt behavior and that the logical step now is to call witnesses.
“At this point, our investigation has already shown the corrupt conduct of the president’s family and that he and senior White House officials have repeatedly lied about their knowledge of and involvement in his family’s businesses,” Johnson said in a statement. .
Those investigations, he added, have also revealed “tens of billions of dollars from foreign enemies that were paid to shell companies controlled by the president’s son, brother and their business partners.”
“Now the appropriate step is to call witnesses under oath and cross-examine them to fill in the gaps,” said the speaker of the Lower House.
For Democrats, this investigation is a distraction maneuver to remove attention from the four criminal charges against former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), Republican favorite to fight Biden in next year’s elections.
The decision to open an investigation into Biden was made last September by the previous leader of the House, fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy.
Republicans have in their sights the Biden family’s alleged business dealings with the country’s “adversaries” such as China, taking advantage of their political ties.
The opposition accuses Biden of having used his influence when he was vice president of the United States in the Government of Barack Obama (2009-2017) to help his son Hunter and other relatives in alleged irregular businesses those “enemies.”
Leading the investigations is the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, in coordination with representatives of the Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, and the Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith.
The United States Constitution states that the president can be removed from office in an impeachment trial if he committed “high crimes or misdemeanors.”
When the time comes, the House of Representatives must vote on whether to file charges against the current president, but the power to remove the country’s president subsequently falls to the Senate, where Democrats currently have control.
