They didn’t drag. As soon as their victory in the House of Representatives was announced, the Republicans began to tackle their obsession: to launch a series of investigations into President Joe Biden, his family and his political actions. Their favorite target? Hunter Biden, the president’s youngest son. It must be said that the character alone is a real scandal factory. He is addicted to cocaine and alcohol, had an affair with his brother’s widow and is the subject of two federal investigations, including one on his tax disputes. Above all, he associated with dodgy businessmen when Joe Biden was vice president. Hence the charges of influence peddling and illegal enrichment against the father and son.
Just after the midterm elections last month, Kentucky elected official James Comer accused the Bidens of tax evasion, money laundering and “abuse of the highest order.” And announced the opening of a new investigation aimed at showing the complicity of Joe Biden in the affairs of his son. But since 2018, despite their best efforts, Republicans in the Senate have found no evidence of corruption against the president.
Hunter is not the only one in the crosshairs. Despite their slim majority in the House of Representatives, Republicans plan to investigate a host of other issues. Among which the “serious strategic errors” during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the immigration policy deemed too lax on the Mexican border, the origin of the coronavirus and the anti-Covid measures taken by the Biden administration, which they have castigated. They also want to examine the supposed “politicization” of the Department of Justice, after the search in August in the luxurious Florida property of Donald Trump to recover secret-defense documents.
Limpeachmenta double-edged objective
The White House denounced these “politically motivated attacks” which smack of revenge, after the numerous investigations opened by the Democrats against Donald Trump on his tax declarations, the insurrection against the Capitol on January 6… The Republicans have another objective: to exhume any compromising information on Joe Biden before the next presidential election of 2024. This is not the first time that they have behaved like this. They spent more than two years during the Obama administration scrutinizing the bombing of the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in the hope of incriminating then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ultimately, the report found no wrongdoing on his part. However, these repeated investigations risk turning against them. “Having 30 hearings devoted solely to the content of Hunter Biden’s computer is probably going to have a negative effect on the voter,” said Ron Bonjean, a former Republican adviser turned consultant, in the American press.
The Trumpist wing dreams of hitting even harder. Since 2020, she has introduced more than a dozen articles seeking Biden’s impeachment. But the party establishment is not in favor of it. In addition to the absence of valid reasons, it is politically risky. The attempt toimpeachment of President Clinton in 1998 increased his popularity rating. Finally, there is no chance that such a measure will pass in the Senate, with the required two-thirds majority.
Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republicans in the House, has also put water in his wine. “The country, I think, does not appreciate the fact that theimpeachment be used for political purposes” and above all aspires to “reconciliation”, he declared recently. But he will be subjected to intense pressure from the ultra right which, for years, has promised his voters Joe Biden. Donald Trump keeps harassing Republicans asking them “how many times” they intend to impeach Biden.impeachment against certain ministers like Alejandro Mayorkas, in Internal Security. In American history, only William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant’s Secretary of War, was sued in 1876 for taking bribes. He was acquitted for lack of votes in the Senate.