Revisiting Top Three Allegations in Biden Impeachment Inquiry

President Joe Biden speaks on his "Bidenomics" and Investing in America agendas at an Amtrak facility in New Castle County, Del., on Nov. 6, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

With subpoenas issued against President Joe Biden’s brother James, his son Hunter, and one of Hunter’s business associates, the impeachment inquiry against the president has reached a critical moment.

The chief allegation against President Biden is that he lied about his knowledge and role in his family’s domestic and international business dealings and coordinated Hunter’s position in the Ukrainian gas firm Burisma.

Other top allegations are that he was involved in a bribery scheme to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor, and received $20 million from foreign actors through shell companies.

“Americans across this country have made it clear to President Joe Biden, the Biden family, and their associates that the gig is up,” stated House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).

“The House Oversight Committee, along with the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, are determined to follow the facts, and deliver the transparency and accountability that the American people demand, deserve, and expect.”

The stakes are high, as the inquiry could result in impeachment against President Biden, the ultimate charge for what the U.S. Constitution describes as “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But Republicans so far have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in any criminal act.

“The Biden impeachment fiasco is a carnival of extremists and idiots,” Democrat strategist Matt Angle, founder of the Texas Lone Star Project, told The Epoch Times.

“The more they do the more foolish they look. They serve up empty evidence, irrelevant witnesses without credibility, and wild and often incoherent rhetoric without foundation. [Republicans] would be a lot more credible by just expressing their policy differences with Biden and Democrats.”

Allegation: Biden Lied About Knowledge of Family Business Deals

Top Republicans, including former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have claimed that President Biden lied to the public about his knowledge or role in his family’s business deals.

The allegation comes in response to President Biden repeatedly saying he has “never discussed with my son, or my brother, or anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses, period.”

But that assertion is false, according to statements from Biden family business associate Devon Archer, who was interviewed by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in July 2023. He said he was aware of at least 20 times in which then-Vice President Biden spoke on speakerphone with Hunter’s foreign business associates.

Mr. Archer also stated that between 2014 and 2015 then-Vice President Biden dined or met with foreign business associates of Hunter’s including oligarchs from Russia and Kazakhstan, a Ukrainian Burisma business executive, and a Chinese business associate for whom Archer alleges the president later wrote a college letter of recommendation for his daughter.

“She didn’t get in,” said Archer, who elaborated that the college in question was Georgetown University in Washington.

President Biden was also in the same room with Hunter while his son was trying to demand payment from a Chinese business associate, according to an interview (transcription pdf) with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley conducted by the House Committee on Ways and Means on May 26, 2023:

“We obtained a July 30th, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, where Hunter Biden wrote:

‘I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.

‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.’”

Shapley said the message was obtained through an iCloud search warrant as part of an investigation of Hunter Biden, code name Sportsman, that the IRS was conducting into a foreign-based amateur online pornography platform.

The House Oversight Committee further detailed in its first bank records memorandum, released on March 16, 2023, that three Biden family members—Hunter, James, Hallie (Beau Biden’s widow), and an unknown Biden—and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments from a Chinese company through a third party.

Allegation: Biden Involved in Million-Dollar Bribery Scheme

An unverified tip to the FBI alleges that then-Vice President Biden was involved in a criminal scheme with a Ukrainian business executive from Burisma to fire Ukraine’s then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in return for millions of dollars.

The FBI’s confidential human source states that executives with Burisma brought Hunter on board to “protect us through his dad from all kinds of problems.” At the time, Burisma was trying to do business in the United States but faced a corruption investigation in Ukraine led by Shokin.

As to the investigation’s impact on its ambitions in North America, Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky reportedly said, “Don’t worry, Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad.”

Zlochevsky reportedly stated that he had to pay $5 million to Hunter Biden and $5 million to Joe Biden, an arrangement he described as ‘poluchili,’ which is Russian crime slang for being “forced or coerced to pay,” according to the FD-1023 document.

Shokin was eventually fired but the White House has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

“It is remarkable that congressional Republicans, in their eagerness to go after President Biden regardless of the truth, continue to push claims that have been debunked for years,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement.

The document added to information that had widely aired during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, which involved Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens ahead of the 2020 election.

It was also reviewed by the Department of Justice and Trump’s Attorney General William Barr. who launched an investigation in 2020 and closed it later that year.

Allegation: Biden Family Got $20 Million from Shell Companies

Various bank records memoranda released from the House Oversight Committee’s investigation have allegedly revealed that Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 “shell companies” in which the Biden family received over $20 million in payments from foreign sources.

“The Committee has revealed millions of dollars have come into the Biden family’s bank accounts from foreign sources, including China, Romania, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. Independent whistleblowers’ sworn testimony from the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden has corroborated the Committee’s financial investigation,” one memorandum reads.

“Testimony from Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, also supports the Committee’s findings. No one in the Biden Administration or in the Minority has explained what services, if any, the Bidens and their associates provided in exchange for the over $20 million in foreign payments.”

While it’s true the information provided seems to indicate that Biden’s family and business associates did receive money, there is no concrete evidence that President Biden received it personally.

“They [Republicans] keep feeding the MAGA beast with moronic unsupported charges,” said Mr. Angle, a Democrat who has advised members of Congress and worked in the House. “The more House Republicans attack President Biden, the greater contrast they draw with Donald Trump, whose contempt for the rule of law and love of himself over his party and country are apparent to all but the delusional.”

Odds for Impeachment

The new Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), has raised the hopes of conservatives who would like to see President Biden impeached, based on statements Johnson has made in the past.

“The mounting evidence shows that Joseph Biden has engaged in bribery schemes, pay-to-play schemes. This is what the evidence shows, we have to follow it. We took an oath to uphold the Constitution,” Johnson said on the House floor in September.

But some political observers say Johnson’s next steps toward impeaching President Biden could get complicated.

“I think he has no choice but to continue to pursue impeachment,“ Republican strategist Brian Seitchik told The Epoch Times. ”He’s a conservative member of Congress, his base is the Freedom Caucus and those conservative members, and they want an impeachment.

“The larger question is what does that mean for Republicans in swing seats? To get to a majority we need Republicans in districts that Biden has and very well could win.”

Mr. Seitchik says impeaching President Biden could help the Trump campaign, as they would be able to make the point that President Biden was also impeached.

“Let’s also accept the reality though, this is DOA in the Senate. So this is really a political tool, not a criminal tool and I think the American people have learned that over the last two years,” he said.

“So as we know, being removed from office in the Senate is absolutely not going to happen with a Democrat-controlled Senate. What is it? What is this impact on the November 2024 election?

“That’s really the most important question here.”