If Biden impeachment inquiry is invalid, why has the president lied about his complicity?

During a recent press conference, President Biden was asked about polling that shows 70% of Americans believe he acted illegally or unethically in regard to his family’s business interests. "That’s just a bunch of lies," he snapped.

This falls far short of the American people’s expectation that the president of the United States protect the public trust and restore faith in our public institutions. After all, the Constitution vests the president with power to implement our laws and to appoint people to the highest positions of power within our government. 

But with so much responsibility, it’s necessary for those holding the office to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct.

President Biden and Hunter Biden (Fox News)

One key fact helps demonstrate why the House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden: President Biden did, in fact, lie to the American people about his knowledge and involvement in his family’s overseas business dealings. 

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While congressional Democrats and media pundits deny and downplay this fact, the truth behind the lie is that President Biden not only had intimate knowledge of these dealings and communicated with Hunter Biden’s business associates, but he was also complicit in their schemes.

President Biden knows that the American people would not tolerate this – which is why he has so frequently lied about it.

President Biden claimed that he had "no knowledge" of his son’s overseas business dealings. During his debate with President Trump, Biden scoffed at the suggestion his son did business with China. Yet, e-mails from Hunter Biden’s laptop show three years earlier that his father wrote college recommendation letters for the son and daughter of Jonathan Li, a Chinese executive with whom Hunter Biden was in business. 

This lie has been further disproven by bank records showing overseas payments from China to Hunter Biden – money that eventually moved through the Biden family and made its way into the president’s own bank account. 

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The president lied again when he claimed that he had no involvement in his son’s business dealings. This is contradicted by overwhelming evidence that shows Joe Biden spoke to Hunter Biden’s business associates on the phone more than 20 times, and even dined with them in Washington, D.C. Some of those associates were paying Hunter Biden millions of dollars. 

Then-Vice President Biden hosted his son’s business associates, Mexican billionaire Miguel Aleman and his father, at the White House, and later used taxpayer dollars to fly Hunter Biden aboard Air Force Two to Mexico City, where he hoped to broker a business deal.

Last month, the Ways and Means Committee released new data showing Joe Biden used aliases to e-mail one-on-one with Eric Schwerin, the architect of the Biden family’s shell companies, at least 54 times. This e-mail activity spiked around the time Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine as vice president, where he was charged with overseeing U.S. foreign policy, while Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company looking to use the Biden family brand to advance its interests.

The access Hunter Biden was selling – whether real or illusory – led countries around the world, such as Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan, to believe that influence in the United States government, up to and including the White House, was for sale to the highest bidder. These countries all funneled millions of dollars to the president’s family. President Biden should have put a stop to it, but instead he remained silent, creating the appearance that the best way to influence the White House was to pay his son and brother.

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During his presidential inauguration speech, Joe Biden was praised for using the word "democracy" more than any previous president in U.S. history. What does it say about a president who preaches democracy while attempting to shield himself, his administration, and his family’s alleged corruption from the oversight that makes a democracy viable? 

Since House Republicans began our investigation, the Biden administration has refused to release documents, allow witnesses to appear for deposition, or even answer basic questions. The president’s own son stood on the steps of the Capitol and declared he would not speak to congressional investigators, in defiance of a lawful subpoena. 

And during an Oversight hearing to consider his contempt of Congress, Hunter Biden staged a publicity stunt by showing up at the committee’s proceedings after flouting his subpoena. President Biden surely was aware of his son’s plans to defy Congress and refuse to answer questions. His silence serves as an endorsement of these actions.

Officials in the Justice Department even launched a campaign to stop the IRS employees investigating Hunter Biden’s crimes. They tipped off the Biden campaign transition team about planned interviews, and even told Hunter Biden’s lawyer ahead of time about a search warrant they intended to execute on a storage unit. 

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In the face of overwhelming evidence showing that Hunter Biden committed multiple tax felonies, the Biden DOJ brokered a sweetheart plea deal that would have let him off with a slap on the wrist – and immunity from future prosecution – had it not collapsed in open court thanks to information shared by two brave IRS whistleblowers. 

Does any American really believe they would receive such white glove treatment if their last name were not Biden?

Our country was founded on the rule of law. We cannot have a different set of rules for the wealthy and powerful – that includes the president. 

If Joe Biden was financially involved in his son’s business dealings or influenced U.S. policy in exchange for financial favors for him or his family, the American people deserve to know. Our investigation will get to the truth now that the House of Representatives has officially authorized an impeachment inquiry. 

However, one thing is clear: President Biden’s word can no longer be trusted. When the president abuses his office or is complicit in others abusing it, Congress must take action to restore the public trust and prove to the American people that all will receive equal treatment under the law.

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Republican Jason Smith represents Missouri's 8th Congressional District and is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.