By Darren Lyn
HOUSTON, US (AA) - The House Oversight Committee held their first hearing of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden on Thursday, with Republicans acknowledging there is no clear evidence at this point of any wrongdoing by the US president.
"Investigators have been shut down when attempting to explore avenues...to the president," said the committee’s chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer, who explained that the impeachment inquiry is necessary to focus on whether Biden "engaged in impeachable offenses under the US Constitution."
The crux of the inquiry centers on whether Biden, during his term as vice president under former President Barack Obama, received any illegal benefits from his son Hunter Biden's international business dealings.
At this initial stage of the proceedings, there is no evidence to prove any of the accusations, which is why Republicans said they are subpoenaing both Bidens' financial records in order determine if a crime has been committed.
Comer said the goal is to uncover any corrupt business dealings by the Bidens and claimed the probes have already "uncovered a mountain of evidence revealing how Joe Biden abused his public office for his family’s financial gain," even though there is no concrete evidence to support those allegations.
Democrats balked at that notion, backing up their argument on day one of the impeachment inquiry by pointing out that none of the witnesses could speak directly to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
"The majority sits completely empty-handed with no evidence of any presidential wrongdoing, no smoking gun, no gun, no smoke," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee.
Of the 12,000 pages of bank records that the committee has received so far, Raskin emphasized that "not a single page shows a dime going to President Joe Biden."
Raskin also admonished Republicans for focusing on the impeachment inquiry instead of on solving the looming government shutdown with its deadline in a few days if they don't pass the bills to fund the government.
As the Oversight Committee pushes forward with its inquiry, Democrats argued that Republicans are trying to impeach Biden without any evidence as payback for the House impeaching former President Donald Trump twice while under Democratic control.
Democrats are also pushing for testimony from Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who sought to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine in 2019, even though none was found.
Raskin compared the hearing to the US television comedy show Seinfeld, calling it a "Seinfeld impeachment — an impeachment hearing about nothing."