Joe Biden's Impeachment Inquiry to Get Green Light

A move to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is likely to go ahead.

For months, Republicans have been informally investigating the Democrat over allegations that he intervened and benefited from his son Hunter Biden's business dealings with China and Ukraine, including accusations of taking bribes. This is said to have happened while Joe Biden was vice president under former President Barack Obama.

The White House and Hunter Biden's lawyers have denied these allegations, and Democrats have criticized the GOP's inquiries, saying they have not found any meaningful evidence against the president. Newsweek has emailed the GOP on Tuesday to comment on this story. We have also contacted the Democratic Party and representatives for Joe Biden by email Tuesday.

Now, Republicans in the House of Representatives will trigger a vote to formalize this inquiry before the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, according to sources speaking to NBC News and Reuters. Republicans said that an official vote authorizing the inquiry will make it easier for them to enforce potential court subpoenas.

"The House has no choice if it's going to follow its constitutional responsibility to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor, so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, we will be at the apex of our constitutional authority," Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a statement last week, confirming the vote would take place this week. If that vote is successful, it will go to a floor vote on Wednesday, NBC News said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican member of one of three committees investigating Biden, told Fox News on Sunday that he expects the inquiry to wrap up within the next two months and the House to draft articles of impeachment in the spring. With a majority of three, a vote to confirm proceedings may be tight for Republicans if all Democrats vote against the inquiry.

However, last week, Colorado Rep. Ken Buck told NBC News he believes he is the only Republican planning to vote against the inquiry. Newsweek has been unable to verify this claim.

For their part, the Democrats have reiterated their stance that the impeachment investigation is a sham.

In a statement previously sent to Newsweek, the White House called the calls for impeachment from the GOP overall as "sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone's time."

Meanwhile, in a statement provided to NBC News, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton said: "If House Republicans took the time to look at their local newspaper, they would know that the public isn't interested in wasting any more time on a sham impeachment.

"The American people want results on the kitchen table issues that matter to their day-to-day lives—not MAGA Republicans' obsession with Donald Trump's reckless revenge quest," Shelton added.