President Joe Biden has refused to participate in the House impeachment inquiry. According to The Hill, Biden wrote in a letter on Monday through a lawyer that the impeachment investigation "is over."
Ongoing Impeachment Inquiry Against Joe Biden
In the letter addressed to House Oversight Chair James Comer obtained by The Hill, Joe Biden's special counsel, Richard Sauber, criticized the ongoing impeachment inquiry, saying that it has failed to uncover any wrongdoing by the president.
"Your Committee's purported 'impeachment inquiry' has succeeded only in turning up abundant evidence that, in fact, the President has done nothing wrong," Sauber wrote.
"Yet rather than acknowledge this reality, your March 28, 2024, letter contains the same litany of false allegations that have been repeatedly debunked and refuted by the very witnesses you have called before your Committee and the many documents you have obtained," he added.
According to Sauber, the only thing that was "abundantly clear" on the impeachment investigation was that "the facts do not matter" because the committee insisted "on peddling these false and unsupported allegations despite ample evidence to the contrary."
In a March letter to Biden, Comer invited the president to a public hearing this week to "explain, under oath," his involvement in his family's businesses. However, the chair had not formally scheduled it.
Sources told CNN that Comer had single-handedly led the effort to invite Biden to testify before his committee, as the invitation was not co-signed by House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan or House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, who are both leading the impeachment inquiry with Comer.
Comer's letter to Biden cited the testimony of Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, former business associates of the president's son, Hunter Biden, in a recent public hearing.
Comer said their testimony contradicted Biden's statements about his involvement in his son's business dealings. Bobulinski and Galanis testified that Biden participated in schemes to help Hunter's businesses, which the White House denied.
Comer's letter not only raised dubious claims regarding the president's family business dealings but also his work as vice president in Ukraine.
The Republican-led impeachment investigation faced a significant setback when a former FBI informant, whose claims played a major role in igniting the inquiry, was recently arrested and indicted for lying to the bureau in fabricating claims that Biden and Hunter accepted bribes from the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma.
Sauber cited hints by Comer and other Republicans in making criminal referrals from their probe rather than pursue charges through impeachment, adding that Comer also suggested this shift in a fundraising email.
"As our Office has demonstrated, and you acknowledged in a recent fundraising email, your impeachment investigation is over," Sauber said. "We decline your invitation for President Biden to testify."
GOP's Dwindling Support on the Impeachment Inquiry Against Joe Biden
The House impeachment inquiry has lost momentum in recent weeks as support among GOP members dwindled. Questions about whether Comer and the other investigators have enough evidence to build a case against Joe Biden have emerged.
In a statement, Comer criticized Biden's refusal to testify publicly and likened it to his son, Hunter Biden's reluctance to appear before the committee.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the Biden family. Like his son, Hunter Biden, President Biden is refusing to testify in public about the Bidens' corrupt influence peddling,"
"It is unfortunate President Biden is unwilling to answer questions before the American people and refuses to answer the very simple, straightforward questions we included in the invitation... The American people deserve transparency from President Biden, not more lies," he added.
House Republicans have been focusing on Hunter's business deals to prove that his father was involved in his family's business dealings, which is the center of the ongoing probe.
However, there is no evidence yet of any wrongdoing by the president. Biden, his son, Hunter, and the White House have maintained that the president was not involved in the family's business dealings.
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