It is "very likely" that President Biden has committed impeachable offenses, according to Speaker Mike Johnson, who was elected to the office on Wednesday after three weeks of Republican turmoil.
In September, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden. It focused on whether the president was ever influenced by the business dealings of his son Hunter Biden, potentially setting the stage for an impeachment trial. McCarthy said the president faced "allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption," warranting further investigation.
Biden has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and White House spokesperson Ian Sams said: "House Republicans have been investigating the president for nine months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so."
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, in his first broadcast interview since becoming speaker, Johnson said that the evidence suggested impeachable offenses had been committed, but he added that he will follow due process.
Johnson said: "The reason we shifted to the impeachment inquiry stage on the president himself was because if, in fact, all the evidence leads to where we believe it will, that's very likely impeachable offenses.
"That's listed as a cause for impeachment in the constitution; bribery and other crimes and misdemeanours. Bribery's listed there, and it looks and smells a lot like that. We're going to follow the truth wherever it leads. We're going to engage in due process because, again, we're the rule of law party," he said.
"I know people are getting anxious and they're getting restless and they just want somebody to be impeached, but we don't do that like the other team. We have to base it on the evidence," added Johnson.
Newsweek has approached the White House press office for comment via email.
Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican representative who introduced the motion to vacate that saw McCarthy become the first speaker in U.S. history to be removed from office, had described the impeachment inquiry as a "failure theater."
Speaking to Politico, he said: "I don't believe that the impeachment effort under Kevin McCarthy was intended to convict Joe Biden as much as it was to save Kevin McCarthy."
However, Gaetz added that he had greater confidence about the impeachment process under Johnson. He said that the new speaker will "approach this like a lawyer" rather than "a desperate person trying to cling to power."
On October 20, Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer shared an image of a $200,000 check sent to Joe Biden by his brother James Biden in 2018.
Comer said that James Biden had received "shady" loans totaling $600,000 from a hospital firm. They were based on claims that his family name could help secure a "large investment from the Middle East."
However, on X, formerly Twitter, Sams posted that the money was clearly marked as a loan repayment.
The White House oversight and investigations spokesperson wrote: "Jamie Comer is pretty desperate to try to distract from Republicans' speaker mess.
"It's a loan repayment from when President Biden loaned his brother money. When he was out of office in 2018, no less. It's right there on the check!" Sams added.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
