James Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, tells lawmakers the president had no involvement in household’s enterprise dealings

Washington — President Biden “by no means had any involvement” within the enterprise dealings of different members of his household, his brother James Biden testified Wednesday as he appeared for a voluntary personal interview on Capitol Hill as a part of Home Republicans’ impeachment inquiry.

“I’ve had a 50-year profession in a wide range of enterprise ventures. Joe Biden has by no means had any involvement or any direct or oblique monetary curiosity in these actions,” the president’s youthful brother stated in a 10-page opening assertion to lawmakers obtained by CBS Information. “None.”

The interview with James Biden is the newest in a sequence that GOP lawmakers have performed just lately as they search to rebuild momentum for an impeachment course of surrounding the Biden household’s abroad funds that has stalled in current months.

Criticism over the dearth of proof immediately associated to the president has grown amongst these within the Republican Occasion who’ve thrown chilly water on allegations that Mr. Biden was immediately concerned in his relations’ supposed efforts to leverage the final identify into company paydays domestically and overseas. The GOP investigation was undercut once more final week when an FBI informant who claimed there was a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the president, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian vitality firm was charged with fabricating the story.

The informant’s claims had been central to the Republican effort in Congress to analyze the president and his household, with investigators even making point out of the unsubstantiated declare in letters to potential witnesses. An lawyer for Hunter Biden, who is predicted to offer a deposition subsequent week, stated the fees present the probe is “based mostly on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses.”

Each James and Hunter Biden had been subpoenaed by the committee in November. Legal professionals for James Biden have stated that there was no justification for the subpoena as a result of the committee had already reviewed personal financial institution information and transactions between the 2 brothers. The committee discovered information of two loans that had been made when President Biden was not in workplace or a candidate for president.

The impeachment inquiry, which started in September beneath the Home Judiciary and Oversight committees, has included the current depositions of a number of former Biden household associates. In almost each a kind of interviews, the witnesses have acknowledged that they’ve seen no proof that President Biden was immediately concerned in his son or brother’s enterprise ventures.

Nonetheless, Republicans, led by the Oversight chairman, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, have stated they’re pushing forward with an inquiry that might end in impeachment prices in opposition to the president, the last word penalty for what the Structure describes as “excessive crimes and misdemeanors.”

There had been personal discussions about bringing articles of impeachment in opposition to Mr. Biden to the Home flooring for a vote in February however these conversations have stalled as assist for the trouble has waned among the many majority. Home Republicans as a substitute shifted their focus within the new 12 months to holding Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable for his dealing with of the scenario on the U.S.-Mexico border. Final week, the razor-thin GOP majority barely managed to question Mayorkas, reflecting political desperation as Republicans battle to make good on the priorities they campaigned on.

The eye is now anticipated to shift again to the impeachment of Mr. Biden as Republicans look to detract consideration from the varied authorized challenges plaguing former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for reelection in November.

Home Democrats have remained united in opposition to the monthslong impeachment effort and have known as on Republicans to finish what they name a “sham course of.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the highest Democrat on the Oversight Committee, stated that James Biden is the newest instance of Republicans enjoying political video games with no signal of tangible proof that might rise to the extent of impeaching a president.

“We clearly once more have heard nothing indicating that Joe Biden had something to do with enterprise ventures of Hunter Biden, or James Biden, and nothing has contradicted that fundamental understanding we have had for a lot of, many months now,” Raskin instructed reporters when the interview broke for lunch.

However Republicans have pushed again on the Biden household’s protection, saying the proof they’ve gathered since early final 12 months paints a troubling image of “affect peddling” within the household’s enterprise dealings, significantly with worldwide purchasers.

“With my look right here right now, the committees can have the knowledge to conclude that the destructive and damaging assumptions about me and my relationship with my brother Joe are mistaken,” James Biden stated in his assertion. “There is no such thing as a foundation for this inquiry to proceed.”