House Republicans have issued subpoenas demanding testimony from Hunter and James Biden, the president’s son and brother, as they hunt for evidence to try to build an impeachment case against him.
VOA reports that representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Oversight Committee, on Wednesday authorized the subpoenas of President Biden’s family members as well as Rob Walker, one of their business associates.
It was the most significant move in the impeachment inquiry since Republicans announced they were opening it in September, despite no evidence that the president had committed high crimes or misdemeanors.
Republicans have toiled for months to try to find support for their allegations that Mr. Biden corruptly profited from his family members’ overseas business dealings and accepted bribes. But to date, they have failed to deliver proof to back up their boldest claims.
The subpoenas demand that James Biden appear for a deposition on December 6 and Hunter Biden appear a week later. Mr. Walker was summoned to appear on November 29.
In a statement announcing the subpoenas on Wednesday, Mr. Comer accused the president of benefiting from an “influence-peddling scheme” and telling lies about his “family’s business schemes.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, putting into motion the third formal bid by Congress to remove a president in the past four years.
Undercutting G.O.P. Claims: Republicans have suggested that Biden used an email alias to abuse his office and cover it up, but an initial tranche of the messages reveals banal content and personal information.
The Biden administration quickly dismissed the subpoenas, calling the Republican inquiry a “wild goose chase” whose only purpose is to damage the president with innuendo ahead of the 2024 election.
“Instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan political smear campaign against the president and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs,” said Ian Sams, a White House spokesman.
Mr. Comer has already issued subpoenas for the bank records of James and Hunter Biden as well as their associates and obtained more than 14,000 pages of documents.
As a result of those subpoenas, Republicans obtained and then released copies of two checks that showed payments from James Biden and his wife, Sara Biden, to Joseph R. Biden Jr. totaling $240,000. Mr. Comer portrayed one of the checks as explosive new evidence that James Biden and President Biden “laundered China money.”
Requests for comment from Hunter Biden, who lives in California, and James Biden, who's from Royal Oak, Maryland, were not immediately returned.