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House Republicans are putting the heat on President Joe Biden, signaling bad news for the president as they released subpoenaed bank records and previewed a looming vote on the chamber's impeachment inquiry.
Representative Patrick Fallon echoed comments from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Monday, suggesting there is enough GOP support to formalize a Biden impeachment before the holidays. Fallon told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Monday that he expected a floor vote before Congress heads home for the December break in less than two weeks.
Later in the morning, Comer offered another sign that the Republican-led investigation of Biden would convince more lawmakers to vote for impeachment. The Kentucky Republican released bank records on Monday that showed Owasco PC, a business entity belonging to Hunter Biden, had set up monthly payments for Joe Biden.
Republicans have vowed to investigate Biden's ties to his son's foreign business dealings since they took the House majority in January, but the probe has remained ongoing. While an impeachment inquiry, led by Comer, was opened regarding the president in September, the probe has not been formalized by the House.
Ian Sams, special assistant to Biden and White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, told Newsweek in a Monday statement, "This baseless smear campaign is solely intended to satisfy their most extreme members and proves once again that these House Republicans are wasting time on the wrong priorities, instead of working with the President on real issues American families care about, like lowering costs, creating jobs, strengthening health care, and protecting our national security."
The financial statement released by Comer shows an ACH authorization agreement authorizing monthly payments from Owasco to "Joseph R. Biden, Jr." It appears to be the same three $1,380 payments from 2018 that have been public since last year and shows the monies as being a reimbursement from Hunter to his father.
"At this moment, Hunter Biden is under an investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for using Owasco PC for tax evasion and other serious crimes," Comer said in a Monday video. He said the payments are "part of a pattern" where Biden "knew about, participated in and benefited" from his family's business dealigns and associates.
"The House Oversight Committee continues to investigate Joe Biden's involvement in his family's domestic and international business schemes at a rapid pace," Comer said. "We will continue to uncover the facts and provide transparency about the findings of our investigation."
Fallon said if House Republicans were able to formalize the impeachment inquiry, it would give lawmakers more subpoena power over the Biden administration, potentially handing them other documents like the ACH authorization that could further shed light on the president's finances.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has also suggested a floor vote would come before the holiday break, saying that even though he didn't expect any Democrats to cross party lines to join Republicans, GOP lawmakers had "a duty to do this."
"We're being stalled by the White House because they're preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward," Johnson told Fox News over the weekend. "A formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step, and I think it's something we have to do at this juncture."
On Monday, Sams said Johnson "admitted there is no evidence to justify it three weeks ago, but he's doing it anyway—further proof that this whole exercise is an extreme political stunt, rather than a legitimate pursuit of the truth."
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more