OPINION:
The House of Representatives is right to begin an official impeachment inquiry against President Biden to finally get to the bottom of the troubling criminal allegations that have been swirling around him and his family’s international influence-peddling operation for the past several years.
The House vote could not have come at a better time. House Speaker Mike Johnson acted convincingly on the heels of Hunter Biden’s decision not to comply with a congressional subpoena to appear for a deposition to answer questions under oath about his central role in the Biden family’s foreign business dealings with some of our country’s most dangerous adversaries.
Hunter’s failure to appear isn’t a shocking development; far from it. Obstructionist maneuvers and dilatory tactics have been the order of the day on the left since the word Burisma burst onto the political lexicon years ago.
Mr. Biden’s allies in the biased mainstream media won’t even cover the Pulitzer-worthy story to this day after they first disingenuously refused to acknowledge the truth about the contents of Hunter’s infamous laptop.
Recall that the desperate 2020 Biden campaign knowingly had 51 former senior members of the intelligence community sign an untruthful letter alleging the laptop was a Russian disinformation scheme, which turned out to be false. But the coordinated election interference stunt had the desired effect.
Democrats in Congress remain in denial as well, even though Mr. Biden’s story seems to change weekly. First, they said that then-Vice President Biden’s office put a wall up between Hunter’s work overseas and his father’s official capacity as vice president. That was a lie.
Then Mr. Biden swore time after time after time to the American people that he never discussed business with Hunter. That was false.
Then the Biden White House said the president never met with any of Hunter’s shady business associates. That was also untrue. As we now know, the elder Biden spoke on the phone or attended dinners with these people on at least 22 occasions.
The most recent false narrative from Hunter Biden himself is that his father wasn’t financially involved in his business dealings.
Remember when President Biden arrogantly asked the American people and challenged the media with the all-important question: “Where’s the money?”
Well, for the past 11 months, congressional investigators have been diligently analyzing bank records and international wire transfers from financial institutions that indicate at least $24 million flowed to the Biden family and business associates from foreign sources. And official documents show that Mr. Biden himself received $240,000 so far.
More bank records are still coming in, and House Republicans will continue to follow the money. Unfortunately for the president, bank records don’t lie, even though he is calling their veracity into question.
So, it’s no surprise that Hunter Biden doesn’t want to answer questions under oath. After all, due to our country’s two-tiered system of justice, he has never been asked questions about the family business by the Department of Justice.
The House’s progress in uncovering these damaging banking transactions makes it clear why special counsel David Weiss is narrowly focused on charging Hunter with tax crimes — because looking at the bigger picture would lead straight to the “Big Guy” himself, President Biden.
Think about how DOJ has slow-walked its Biden investigation for the past five years compared with the light-speed prosecution they’re now engaged in to interfere in the 2024 election to try to stop former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, by any means necessary.
Due to Hunter Biden’s noncompliance, however, the House of Representatives must now hold him in contempt of Congress. A lot has changed in recent years with regard to congressional contempt citations and how official Washington handles them. For example, when House Republicans held Obama administration officials Eric Holder and Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department decided against taking action.
Back then, contempt charges were seen as a political lever that Congress could use to make a point in appropriate circumstances. No one really expected DOJ to prosecute such cases.
However, that all changed because of the words and actions of the illegitimate Jan. 6 committee, President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland not so long ago.
When former Trump aides Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro refused to comply with subpoenas issued by the invalid J6 committee contempt, charges were filed, but this time, Mr. Biden and Mr. Garland made the consequential decision to create a new precedent by moving forward with criminal prosecutions, shackles and jail. In 2021, Mr. Biden himself stated publicly that he thought these individuals should be prosecuted criminally. And that was that.
This new precedent — “the Bannon-Navarro Doctrine,” which I’ve mentioned in this space previously — changed everything. Now, when Congress holds Hunter Biden in contempt, we’ll see if Mr. Garland means it when he says justice is blind regardless of what your last name is or which president you worked for.
In the meantime, Congress should continue following the facts in their impeachment inquiry wherever they lead.
Americans have a right to know if President Biden is corrupt, compromised, or both. The House should then commence public impeachment hearings in the spring to coincide with special counsel Jack Smith’s political prosecution of Mr. Trump.
• David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and served as 2016 deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.
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