Impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden

Impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden
President Biden meeting with then-Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, February 1, 2023.
AccusedJoe Biden, 46th President of the United States
Proponents
Lead officialJames Comer
Committees
Committee chairs
DateSeptember 12, 2023 – August 19, 2024
(11 months, 1 week and 1 day)
OutcomeReport released alleging "impeachable conduct", but making not recommending any articles of impeachment
Cause
  • Allegations that Joe Biden financially benefited from business dealings with his son, Hunter Biden
  • Allegations that Hunter was given preferential treatment during a federal investigation
  • Allegations that Biden was guilty of corruption, abuse of power, obstruction
This article is part of
a series about
Joe Biden
Personal
U.S. Senator from Delaware
47th Vice President of the United States
Vice presidential campaigns
46th President of the United States
Incumbent
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Joe Biden's signature
Seal of the President of the United States

On September 12, 2023, Kevin McCarthy, then-speaker of the United States House of Representatives, announced an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The inquiry was conducted by the House's Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, was named to lead the investigation.

Speaker McCarthy had twelve days earlier said an inquiry would require a majority House vote. He initiated the inquiry stating that recent House investigations "paint a picture of corruption" by Biden and his family.[1][2][3][4] No congressional investigations had yet discovered any evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden himself.[a] The inquiry held a public hearing on September 28, 2023.[9]

Despite neither the earlier Comer committee investigation nor the impeachment inquiry finding evidence of wrongdoing by the president, on December 13, 2023, majority House Republicans unanimously approved a resolution to formalize the inquiry. Democrats unanimously voted against the resolution.[10] Lacking evidence and Republican appetite to proceed to impeachment hearings with their thin House majority, by March 2024 the impeachment inquiry was winding down.[11][12] The three investigating committees released a nearly 300-page report on August 19, 2024, alleging "impeachable conduct" but did not recommend specific articles of impeachment, focusing primarily on the activities of Hunter Biden and his associates, and the president's brother, Jim Biden.[13]

On February 15, 2024, the FBI arrested and charged Alexander Smirnov, who was the central[14][15] figure in bribery allegations against Biden, for lying to investigators and fabricating an uncorroborated[14] story to damage Biden's reelection campaign, and that "officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved" in manufacturing the story.[14][16][17][18]

  1. ^ Mascaro, Lisa; Farnoush, Amiri (September 12, 2023). "Speaker McCarthy directs the House to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  2. ^ Zanona, Melanie; Tablot, Haley; Fox, Lauren; Grayer, Annie (September 12, 2023). "McCarthy calls for formal impeachment inquiry into Biden amid pressure from conservatives". CNN. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  3. ^ Cortellessa, Eric (September 8, 2023). "McCarthy Lacks the Votes For an Impeachment Inquiry. Trump's Allies Have a Plan to Get Them". Time. Archived from the original on September 12, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  4. ^ Griffing, Alex (September 12, 2023). "'He Doesn't Have Enough Votes': CNN's Manu Raju Explains Why McCarthy Backtracked on Impeachment Vote". Mediaite. Archived from the original on September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  5. ^ Broadwater, Luke (May 10, 2023). "House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  6. ^ Demirjian, Karoun (July 4, 2023). "Republicans Are Divided on Impeaching Biden as Panel Begins New Inquiry". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  7. ^ Perry Stein; Devlin Barrett; Matt Viser (August 17, 2023). "How a fight over immunity unraveled Hunter Biden's plea deal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  8. ^ Otten, Tori (September 12, 2023). "McCarthy Plans Biden Impeachment Inquiry—With No Evidence and Not Enough Votes". The New Republic. Archived from the original on September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  9. ^ "US: Biden impeachment inquiry hearing begins". Deutsche Welle. September 28, 2023. Archived from the original on September 28, 2023. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  10. ^ Moira Warburton; Katharine Jackson (December 13, 2023). "Biden impeachment inquiry authorized by House Republicans, despite lack of evidence". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  11. ^ Mascaro, Lisa (March 20, 2024). "Republicans make last-ditch request for Biden to testify as impeachment inquiry winds down". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  12. ^ Grayer, Annie (April 15, 2024). "White House declines invite for Biden to testify in House Oversight impeachment inquiry". CNN. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2024. House Republicans have not uncovered evidence of wrongdoing by the president and currently do not have the votes in the House to impeach him given their narrow, divided majority
  13. ^ Steakin, Will; Levine, Mike; Charalambous, Peter; Peller, Lauren (August 19, 2024). "House Republicans issue Biden impeachment report filled with familiar allegations". ABC News.
  14. ^ a b c Broadwater, Luke; Thrush, Glenn (February 23, 2024). "Ignoring Warnings, G.O.P. Trumpeted Now-Discredited Allegation Against Biden". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  15. ^ Nazzaro, Miranda (February 22, 2024). "Indicted FBI informant central to GOP Biden probe rearrested". The Hill. Archived from the original on March 1, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  16. ^ Thrush, Glenn (February 15, 2024). "Ex-F.B.I. Informant Is Charged With Lying Over Bidens' Role in Ukraine Business". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 29, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  17. ^ Barrett, Devlin (February 20, 2024). "Informant charged with lies about Bidens also claimed Russian contacts, feds say". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on March 2, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  18. ^ Whitehurst, Lindsay (February 21, 2024). "How is an ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens allegedly linked to Russian intelligence?". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2024.


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