US House of Representatives Votes in Favor of Investigation to Impeach Biden

The US House of Representatives, where Republicans have a majority, by a vote on Wednesday formally authorized an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, who represents the Democratic Party. The decision passed by a vote of 221 to 212. Republicans accuse Biden for allegedly improperly benefiting from foreign business activities of his 53-year-old son Hunter Biden, particularly in Ukraine and China, during Biden’s vice presidency. They did not provide specific evidence of this. Republicans informally launched an investigation three months earlier. With this vote, they have more legal tools to demand the Biden administration cooperate on this issue. The White House dismisses the investigation as unsupported by facts and politically motivated. Joe Biden criticized Republicans for ignoring his requests for domestic policy priorities and additional funding for Ukraine and Israel. “Instead of doing something to improve the lives of Americans, they are focused on attacking me with lies,” Biden said. The procedure launched by Republicans will almost certainly not allow them to remove Biden from office, as in the case with the 45th president, Donald Trump. Even if the House of Representatives votes in favor of impeachment, the next step must be a vote in the Senate, where the President must be found guilty by two-thirds of senators. This is virtually impossible, as Democrats have a majority there by a margin of 51 to 49. At the same time, the procedure could be part of the Republicans’ campaign ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The 45th President of the United States Donald Trump was twice tried to declare impeachment in 2020 for trying to pressure Ukraine for a corruption investigation against Biden amid the presidential campaign, and in 2021 for trying to change his defeat in the elections. Both attempts failed in the Senate. Earlier, US President’s son Hunter Biden faced nine charges in California in connection with possible tax violations. Hunter Biden is also accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 on an application form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. If proven guilty, he faces up to 25 years in prison. Hunter Biden is pleading not guilty.