Joe Biden Dismisses Impeachment Probe Alleging That Republicans Want To Shut Down the Government

After months of looking into President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden's international business transactions, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have begun an impeachment probe. However, they have discovered no proof of wrongdoing on Biden's part. Later on Wednesday, the president dismissed the House Republicans' impeachment inquiry, stating he believes they are conducting the investigation against him in order to shut down the federal government. These were the president's first public comments since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the start of an impeachment inquiry against him. 

While addressing the gathering at the Democratic Fundraiser in Virginia, he said, "I’m focused on the things the American people want me focused on." In addition, he brought up Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is widely seen as supporting his opponent Donald Trump in the 2024 race, and he added, "The first day she was elected, the first thing she wanted to do was impeach Biden. Look, I’ve got a job; I’ve got to deal with the issues that affect the American people every single, solitary day."

White House officials have been prepared for the possibility of impeachment ever since Republicans took over the House of Representatives in November. About a dozen people from the counsel's office have been working on it full-time. Also, Former Obama administration lawyer Ed Siskel has been appointed the new general counsel. Siskel was involved in drafting the government's answer to congressional inquiries into the 2012 Benghazi incident, in which four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed.

So far, the White House's strategy for dealing with impeachment has been to dismiss the allegations and keep the emphasis on policy; it has passed the buck on the impeachment issue to the attorneys. When asked for clarification, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the investigation a 'political stunt.' The Post put forth the question, "Can you explain why the president interacted with so many of his son’s foreign business associates?" The secretary replied, "Have a great day, " and walked out of the room. Initially, during the briefing, journalists asked Jean-Pierre if the White House would cooperate with House demands for papers and whether House Republicans were expected to uncover any 'incriminating' material. Karine repeated the same thing again: that the president has 'done nothing wrong,' adding that the investigation is 'baseless.'

In June, as per the reports, President Biden repeated his assertion that he 'never' discussed international business dealings with his son Hunter Biden. Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich posed a question to the president, "Did you lie about never speaking with Hunter about his business deals?" To which the President immediately replied, "No". The journalist followed up with another question, "Did you ever speak with Hunter about his business deals?" However, another reporter screamed a question at the president, and it was hard to tell whether the president answered or not. This comes after an IRS whistleblower, during an appearance with the House Ways and Means Committee last month, disclosed a 2017 WhatsApp exchange in which Hunter Biden reportedly threatened a Chinese business contact by saying, "You will regret not following my direction."