State’s House team in favor of inquiry
WASHINGTON — Arkansas’ delegates in the U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with House Republicans eager to continue their investigative efforts into the president and his family.
All four House members joined their Republican colleagues in the 221-212 party-line vote directing committees to continue their investigations regarding any wrongdoing by the president.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., directed the impeachment inquiry in September with House Republicans eager to find something that would prove Joe Biden inappropriately benefited from business dealings involving his family with a particular focus on his son, Hunter.
Arkansas’ House members backed McCarthy’s unilateral decision. Rep. French Hill of Little Rock noted at the time that McCarthy instructed lead investigators to be “very deliberate in their due diligence.”
Current Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pushed the resolution to provide committees with a stronger position in issuing subpoenas.
“This is almost like a grand jury-type scenario where you’re just asking for a review of the evidence and if there’s enough to proceed,” Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro said, adding there is “more than sufficient” evidence to seek an impeachment inquiry.
“The general public is best served when you can get the truth out there and settle it once and for all,” Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers said. “I think this is just a normal step in that process.”
House Republicans have focused much of their investigative efforts on Hunter Biden, citing bank records and financial transactions to allege the president received payments from his son’s interests and Hunter Biden leveraged the Biden name in his business endeavors.
“The bank records are the receipts showing that there’s probably some fire from where the smoke is,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs. “When you look at the totality of it, I think we definitely need to get more information and keep this process moving forward.”
The U.S. Constitution states Congress can impeach and remove a president, vice president or other official if lawmakers can find sufficient evidence proving treason, bribery or “other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
While supportive of the impeachment inquiry, Womack emphasized the need to prove Joe Biden committed an impeachable offense worthy of removal from office.
“I don’t see the high crimes and misdemeanors issue put to bed just yet,” Womack said. “If we get that far along in this thing and those are indisputable, then, of course, there will be impeachment articles drawn. Right now, I think we just go through this process.”
The White House and Hunter Biden have rejected claims the president personally benefited from these transactions. Hunter Biden said Wednesday outside of the U.S. Capitol that congressional investigators have “distorted the facts by cherry-picking” information from financial documents and mishandling other obtained records.
“My father was not financially involved in my business,” he said. “Not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not in my investments at home and abroad, and certainly not as an artist.”
The House Oversight Committee was supposed to receive closed-door testimony from Hunter Biden on Wednesday, but he opposed providing a deposition in such an environment, saying he should testify in an open setting. Congressional investigators said they will begin contempt of Congress proceedings related to Hunter Biden’s absence.
The president described the House GOP effort as an “impeachment stunt” with federal lawmakers set to leave Washington, D.C., by the end of the week.
Today marks the final scheduled day of votes with both chambers prepared to begin a three-week holiday break. The White House has yet to receive legislation on multiple pressing issues, including support for Ukraine and Israel in addition to security improvements at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies,” Joe Biden said. “Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts.”
The House approved a $14.5 billion military aid package benefiting Israel in November, but the Senate has not considered this legislation. Congressional Republicans have been adamant about addressing current immigration policies to curtail rising illegal migration numbers.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., described the impeachment inquiry as “an affront to the people who sent us here to work for them.”
The impeachment inquiry will continue into the new year as Joe Biden seeks a second term in the White House. Former President Donald Trump — the current front-runner for the Republican Party nomination — was twice impeached by the House. The first proceedings stemmed from accusations involving Trump withholding military aid to Ukraine in hopes of an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden, and the second impeachment followed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol when Trump supporters attempted to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
None of Arkansas’ House members supported impeaching Trump during either impeachment effort.
“This is about avenging Donald Trump,” Clark said. “This is about undermining our democracy and influencing the 2024 election.”
Westerman defended the impeachment inquiry, noting the presented records show a need for a congressional investigation.
“You would think with the evidence that’s already out there, there would be a broad public outcry to do more,” he said.
Crawford described the Biden impeachment inquiry as “procedurally sound,” contending House Democrats rushed through their efforts to impeach Trump.
“This is the right way to do it [and] the proper procedure to take it before the House,” the congressman added.