Law professor Jonathan Turley said Friday on Fox News that the time has come for the House of Representatives to launch an impeachment inquiry into the scandals surrounding President Joe Biden’s family.
House Republicans have repeatedly hinted at launching an impeachment inquiry after whistleblowers with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that Biden communicated with his son, Hunter, about his overseas business dealings and that federal law enforcement officials let the president’s son off easy. The president repeatedly said had no involvement with his son’s business dealings and that his family made no money from the Chinese energy officials with whom Hunter worked.
“The Speaker’s right, we often talk about the powers of Congress and its obligations — what is the House supposed to do? You have a president that has clearly lied. Lied for years,” Turley said. “Lied to the American people, lied it through his representatives at the White House during his presidency. He obviously did know about these deals. He had involvement with some of these meetings. There was money that went to China. And then you’ve got IRS agents saying the fix was in this case was actively managed to avoid serious charges for the president’s son.”
“You have millions of dollars moving through a labyrinth of accounts,” Turley continued. “You have a trusted source saying there was a bribery allegation. The crime that is the second one mentioned in the impeachment clause. So what are you supposed to do about that? And the answer is, you have to investigate, and an impeachment inquiry gives the House that ability. It doesn’t mean they’re going to impeach. It means they’re taking the responsibility seriously.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has called for an impeachment inquiry into the president in order to obtain all documents detailing the Biden family’s overseas business dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese energy companies. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Joe Biden Claimed Hunter Never Made Money From China)
“So what an impeachment inquiry does is it gets at the apex of the power of Congress for Republicans and Democrats to gather the information that they need,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday. “So when we’re continuing — you raise a question like this, wondering what’s right or wrong — you would want the truth as well, as you’re covering it for the American public. What that simply provides is that the American public has a right to know, and this allows Congress to get the information to be able to know the truth.”
The whistleblowers initially testified before the House Ways and Means Committee with allegations that the Department of Justice (DOJ), under the authority of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, lied to Congress by claiming the agency’s investigations into Hunter’s tax violations would not be politicized. Whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Zeigler told the committee the agency attempted to benefit the Bidens by withholding evidence from the agents during investigations into Hunter, and also refused to prosecute Biden upon recommendation from prosecutors.
The whistleblowers also said the DOJ denied them access to certain documents and resources that would have helped facilitate the investigation. Zeigler testified Wednesday that the DOJ blocked IRS agents from accessing a WhatsApp message from July 30, 2017, in which Hunter apparently threatened a Chinese business official by claiming that his father was sitting next to him.
Whistleblowers with the DOJ handed Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley a FD-1023 form alleging that a Ukrainian oligarch bribed then-Vice President Biden with $5 million. Seventeen tapes of Biden and Hunter speaking with a foreign national about the bribery scheme allegedly existed. The president ignored a question about the matter at a June 14 White House event.