Republicans say ‘the Biden family sold access to Joe’s power’ as FIRST impeachment inquiry hearing on Hunter’s shady deals begins with protesters and GOP laying out the $24M raked in from overseas

Republicans kicked off their first impeachment hearing by tearing into Joe Biden and trying to tie him to his son’s business dealings, as Democrats claimed they had ‘no evidence’ to show the president ever profited from Hunter’s influence-trading.

Top Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin made a motion to subpoena Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas, believing them to be not credible witnesses and claiming the  accusations about Joe Biden’s involvement originated with them. 

‘If this dysfunction caucus is going to insist on going forward, we must receive the testimony of Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas, the insiders who know the origins of the lie upon which this sham impeachment is based and who work to spread it,’ Raskin said. 

Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., called a vote to table that motion, or swat down the effort to subpoena the Trump-aligned duo, which passed with a majority of Republican votes. 

Comer, meanwhile, claimed Biden had ‘abused his public office for his family’s financial gain. For years, President Biden has lied to the American people about his knowledge of and participation in his family’s corrupt business schemes.’

‘If this dysfunction caucus is going to insist on going forward, we must receive the testimony of Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas, the insiders who know the origins of the lie upon which this sham impeachment is based and who work to spread it,’ Raskin said

‘Biden spoke, dined, and developed relationships with his family’s foreign business targets. These business targets include foreign oligarchs who sent millions of dollars to his family,’ Comer went on. 

But Republican witness Jonathan Turley, who defended Trump during his impeachment trial, said the evidence against Joe Biden has not yet amounted to an impeachable offense. 

‘While I believe that an impeachment inquiry is warranted, I do not believe that the evidence currently meets the standard of a high crime and misdemeanor needed for an article of impeachment,’ Turley said in his opening statement. 

Turley said that while Republicans allege Biden lied about the foreign business dealings, lying is not an impeachable offense. 

‘Indeed most presidents have lied to the American people.’ 

Comer, meanwhile, also pointed to newly released bank records showing Chinese officials sent $250,000 to Joe Biden’s home address in 2019 while he was running for president. It’s not clear if Hunter was living there at the time, but the new evidence suggests Joe did know that Hunter did business with China despite claiming his son never did. 

There are also WhatsApp messages Hunter sent to an associate claiming Joe was in the room while they were discussing business, and damning testimony from IRS and FBI whistleblowers.

Comer reiterated that the Oversight Committee has discovered around 20 shell companies to wire over $20 million to the Biden family between 2014 and 2019. Around nine family members have been found to receive payments. They have yet to link the payments directly to Joe’s bank account, but text messages have suggested Hunter paid bills for his father. 

Republicans must directly tie Hunter’s influence peddling to Joe if they want to nail him for high crimes and misdemeanors. In this first hearing, Comer has said not to expect any new bombshells but said that he wants to ‘reeducate’ the Washington press corps on existing evidence. 

During the hearing Republicans frequently pointed to Joe meeting one of Hunter’s Chinese business partners, Jonathan Li, when he took his son on a 2013 Air Force 2 trip to China.

In total Joe met with fifteen of Hunter’s business associates according to White House visitor logs and records from the First Son’s laptop.