# "House to start an impeachment inquiry into President Biden" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 12, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995 "2023-09-12T16:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/341 "2023-12-14T00:57:20Z")
From the NBC article @Dissonance Sam Stone posted… “The witness indicated that Hunter spoke to his father every day, and approximately 20 times over the course of 10-year relationship, Hunter may have put his father on the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., told reporters after the closed-door meeting. He said that included times when Hunter Biden was with friends, and times when he was with "potential business partners or business partners.” “As he described it, it was all casual conversation, niceties, the weather, what’s going on. There wasn’t a single conversation about any of the business dealings that Hunter had,” Goldman added.“ So What’s Joe guilty of here? Talking to offspring’s employers about nothing?? That cite goes against your little deep state stuff, Sam. At least I now have common knowledge that the “speaking to employers 20x” is BS. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/342 "2023-12-14T01:34:01Z")
> **[Joe Biden Lied At Least 16 Times About His Family’s Business Schemes - United...](https://oversight.house.gov/blog/joe-biden-lied-at-least-15-times-about-his-familys-business-schemes/)** > > United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Joe Biden claims from the cite, all backed up with video of him saying it: > [@](#): > > **August 28, 2019** > > Then-Presidential Candidate Joe Biden: “First of all, I have never discussed with my son, or my brother, or anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses, period. What I will do is the same thing we did in our administration. There will be an absolute wall between the personal and private, and the government. There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there. And I will impose the same kind of strict, strict rules. That is why I have never talked with my son or my brother, or anyone else in the distant family about their business interests, period.” > > … > > **September 21, 2019** > > Reporter: “Have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?” > > Joe Biden: “I’ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” > > … > **October 4, 2019** > > Reporter: “Excuse me. There was a photo of you golfing with your son Hunter and his business partner Devon Archer. Do you stand by your statement that you did not discuss any of your son’s overseas business dealings?” > > Joe Biden: “Yes, I stand by that statement.” > > … > > **October 9, 2019** > > Joe Biden: “I don’t discuss business with my son. I didn’t know that was the case when in fact I found out after the fact. And I don’t discuss things with my son or my family because I don’t want to have any knowledge of any, I don’t want to be accused of well you talk with your son, you talk with your whomever.” There is a lot more there, and documentation for what actually happened. Rob Walker, an associate in Hunter’s deals with CEFC, a Chinese energy company connected to state security, and he testified that Biden was present at a meeting with them. From his interview with the FBI: **FBI** : Did the VP ever show up at any CEFC meeting or anything like that, even when he was out of office? **Rob Walker:** YES. **FBI** : Any times when he was in office, or did you hear Hunter say he was setting up a meeting with them while he was in office? **Rob Walker:** Yeah. There is a WhatsApp message from Huner to a Chinese business associate where Hunter claims Joe is in the room with him and threatens the Chinese to pay up or face Biden’s wrath. **Hunter** : “Have the director call me. Not Tony, or Jim. **I am sitting here with my father** , and we would like to know why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that **between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.** ” He is threatening a director of a security-service linked company that he’s with his dad, the VP, and if they don’t get their money Dad and all the people he knows will make the VP’s life miserable. Much more at the link, and at the previous links I left, which also contained this information. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/343 "2023-12-14T01:40:02Z")
So no evidence for your claim that Joe Biden said he never spoke to anyone Hunter ever did business with, I take it? And no actual evidence that Joe Biden lied in any of his other claims, it appears. Those quotes don’t actually include any evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden. If you disagree, show the exact quote, and exact claim, with the specific cite (once again - the document itself, not the GOP claims about the document). Because this isn’t it. These are claims that Joe Biden said he didn’t discuss business with his son, and not a shred of evidence that this was not true. Sure, evidence that Hunter was a bullshitter (when Joe Biden was out of office). But nothing showing a shred of wrongdoing by Joe Biden. Not even catching him in a lie! Nothing. Where is the full Rob Walker transcript? Not a GOP snippet, but the full transcript? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/344 "2023-12-14T01:42:49Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > There is a WhatsApp message from Huner to a Chinese business associate where Hunter claims Joe is in the room with him and threatens the Chinese to pay up or face Biden’s wrath. Out of curiosity, wasn’t this uncorroborated WhatsApp message _allegedly_ sent in **[July 2017](https://abcnews.go.com/US/hunter-biden-whatsapp-message-fuels-gop-assertions-corruption/story?id=100338044)**? What was Joe Biden’s official role in July 2017 – when Donald Trump was President? Sam? You really need to do better than this. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/345 "2023-12-14T01:44:45Z")
I don’t equate Biden “showing up” at a meeting with him discussing business dealings, let alone having any kind of significant involvement with Hunter’s business, and even that’s a far cry from showing criminality or an impeachable offense. Hunter’s words (while trying to intimidate people in a business discussion) definitely tried to make it seem like his dad was involved, but I don’t think his word can be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/346 "2023-12-14T01:46:14Z")
Joe says he never talked business. Sam provides evidence of someone testifying under oath that Joe never talked business. This is evidence that Joe lied, or something. Definitely Joe doing the lying. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/347 "2023-12-14T01:56:20Z")
@Sam_Stone, I don’t see the Rob Walker transcript in your link. So I don’t accept that without a cite. Let’s see the full transcript. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/348 "2023-12-14T02:10:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > [Joe Biden Lied At Least 16 Times About His Family’s Business Schemes - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability](https://oversight.house.gov/blog/joe-biden-lied-at-least-15-times-about-his-familys-business-schemes/) > > Joe Biden claims from the cite, all backed up with video of him saying it: > … I had to break it off there because my guess is that Donald Trump lies at least 15 times before he goes to the bathroom every morning. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/349 "2023-12-14T02:14:27Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > From the NBC article @Dissonance Sam Stone posted… Damn, notified by a typo. Oh well, I see Sam has finally finished his supper! I’m kind of tempted to ask for a cite that this alleged supper ever occurred. I mean the longest it ever took me to finish supper was three weeks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/350 "2023-12-14T02:17:01Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Out of curiosity, wasn’t this uncorroborated WhatsApp message _allegedly_ sent in **[July 2017](https://abcnews.go.com/US/hunter-biden-whatsapp-message-fuels-gop-assertions-corruption/story?id=100338044)**? > > What was Joe Biden’s official role in July 2017 – when Donald Trump was President? And, Hunter is hardly reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/351 "2023-12-14T02:32:51Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I don’t equate Biden “showing up” at a meeting with him discussing business dealings, let alone having any kind of significant involvement with Hunter’s business You added the ‘sigtnificant’ qualifier, but that’s not what Joe said. > [@Joe Biden](#): > > First of all, I have never discussed with my son, or my brother, or anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses, period He’s been making claims like that for years. Never discussed business even with his son, never had anything at all to do with his businesses, there’s a firewall between me and him, etc. And yet, we have plenty of evidence that these are not true. Here’s Joe Biden meeting Hunter’s Kazakhstan partners: > **[Photo shows Joe Biden meeting Hunter’s alleged business partner from Kazakhstan](https://nypost.com/2020/10/20/photo-biden-meets-hunters-alleged-partner-from-kazakhstan/)** > > A new photograph has emerged of Democratic nominee Joe Biden posing with Hunter Biden and Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakh oligarch who reportedly worked with the former veep’s scandal-scarred son. Here’s Hunter and Joe golfing with Devon Archer and allegedly a Ukrainian energy executive. > **[Joe and Hunter Biden golfed with Ukraine gas executive in 2014](https://nypost.com/2019/10/01/joe-and-hunter-biden-golfed-with-ukraine-gas-executive-in-2014/)** > > ​A photo has surfaced that shows former Vice President Joe Biden posing with his son Hunter and Devon Archer, who served ​with Hunter ​on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings… And of course the links I’ve been providing document more connections. > **[Joe Biden met with at least 14 of Hunter’s business associates while vice...](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-met-14-hunters-business-associates-vice-president)** > > President Biden met with at least 14 of his son's business associates from the U.S., Mexico, Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan while he was vice president in the Obama White House. Then there was Biden’s fake E-mail account, which he used to communicate with various people off the record. We have the metadata thanks to IRS whistleblowers. Among the Emails to Hunter’s business associates there are 54 E-mails betqeen Biden and Hunter’s business partner Eric Schwerin. The House committee is waiting for the E-mails from the National Records Office. A couple of days ago Biden was asked about the evidence that he had been in contact with Hunter’s associates. Biden said, “They’re all lies!” They aren’t. When Eric Schwerin, the person with the 54 E-mails from Biden heard that, he said “that’s complete malarky! There’s plenty of evidence.” Among that evidence would be the 54 Emails, and White House visitor logs that show Schwerin had visited the White House dozens of times. > **[Fresh revelations contradict Joe Biden’s sweeping denials on Hunter](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/05/hunter-joe-biden-business-testimony-00125056)** > > The president hasn’t been shown to have committed wrongdoing, but a POLITICO review of recent developments casts doubts on several statements. Then there was the dinner with Hunter and the Burisma executive: > [@](#): > > Of the many disputes that followed the leaking of Hunter Biden’s laptop contents, one of the thorniest has been the case of the April 2015 dinner at Cafe Milano. > > Emails from the cache suggested that Hunter Biden hosted a dinner in a private room at the tony Washington restaurant that included both his father and an executive from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which had appointed Hunter Biden to its board. An email from the executive, dated immediately following the dinner, thanked Hunter Biden for the chance to meet his father. The White House immediately denied it. > [@](#): > > As the media litigated the controversy, the White House insisted, in increasingly forceful terms\*\*,\*\* that no meeting between Biden and the executive had occurred. > > In October 2021, a year after the dinner became a matter of national controversy, a POLITICO article mentioning it prompted an email response from a White House spokesperson reiterating and extending denials that Biden had met the Ukrainian executive, Vadym Pozharskyi. > > While some statements from Biden representatives could be construed as only ruling out that a formal meeting took place between Biden and the executive, the White House maintained its denial was more sweeping. > > “Does this rule out any informal encounter with Pozharskyi in April 2015?” POLITICO asked. > > “Yes,” the White House spokesman wrote back. > > Then, this July, a former Hunter Biden business partner who was present at the dinner testified before the House Oversight Committee. Under penalty of perjury, Devon Archer said that the Ukrainian executive **did** dine with Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and several others at Cafe Milano in April 2015. Documentation on the Cafe Milano dinner can be found on the House Oversight Committee page I linked to earlier. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/352 "2023-12-14T02:36:56Z")
So, they took selfies, played golf, ate dinner… Where’s the _evidence_ that they discussed business? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/353 "2023-12-14T02:39:03Z")
Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? What **actions** did Joe Biden allegedly take **as a result** of these scandalous conversations? You don’t have graft and corruption without some sort of shady dealings, right? It’s not impeachable for Joe to have spoken to his son. Is it the claim that the Vice President isn’t allowed to talk to **any** business people, or just ones who know his son? I’m still confused as to what all this effort to say that Joe most definitely assuredly talked to people (about business!) is supposed to mean. Never mind the lack of evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/354 "2023-12-14T02:43:07Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You added the ‘sigtnificant’ qualifier, but that’s not what Joe said. Note that I posted escalating circumstances. That’s what “let alone” generally means. To help, here are the circumstances: Talking about business dealings. Having a significant role in Hunter’s business. Doing something worthy of impeachment (which would probably include criminality, though that’s not necessarily a requirement). Even the least of those things is not shown by your cites. “Showing up” does not mean the same thing as “talking about business”. If Biden was lying about not discussing business dealings, that sucks because lying is bad. That’s about it though. (And there is still no indication of this; you can attend a dinner or pop into a meeting to say hi without getting involved in business discussions.) Now, let’s say that Biden worked with his son and made money with Hunter’s business dealings despite claiming otherwise. That would concern me and I’d want an investigation. You’d still need to uncover something in those investigations before an impeachment is warranted. We are so far removed from that, it’s absolutely ludicrous to try to put one forth right now. Literally the only reason at this point for an impeachment is so that the Republicans can claim, like a kid at a playground, that if you impeach our president we’ll do it back. And to do it soon enough that they can use it as a talking point leading up to the election. There is no substance to this. Even your own cites show this. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/355 "2023-12-14T02:57:33Z")
@Sam_Stone One of the things that’s the most deeply troubling about the RW nonsense that you subscribe to is … My wife is a Nurse Practitioner in a Residency program. Over the years, I have gotten together with lots of faculty, licensed staff, residents, and administration, socially, along with my wife. We have almost never talked about their _business,_ and we have _never_ discussed medicine or any patient. Never. Full stop. But I’m fairly comfortable that Jim Comer and Jim Jordan could spin it very differently. Why are you so credulous about these things? How has the RW and the GOP earned your trust in the last seven years?? What hot-button bogeyman have they ever _truly_ produced? Was it Benghazi? The Birther Conspiracy? Hillary’s private e-mail server? The Big Lie about the 2020 election – the lie that – **so far** – has cost Fox News $787,500,000.00? What smoking gun have they provided? Other than tribalism, how and why have they earned your trust? Couldn’t it be that they view it all as a political zero-sum game: that any _appearance_ of impropriety on the part of Joe Biden that they can conjure will cancel out the overwhelming evidence of serial criminality on the part of Donald Trump? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/356 "2023-12-14T03:02:56Z")
Full transcript for you. Have fun. > **[T60-Exhibit-401-John-Robinson-Walker-Interview-Transcript-12.08.2021\_Redacted.pdf](https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/T60-Exhibit-401-John-Robinson-Walker-Interview-Transcript-12.08.2021_Redacted.pdf)** > > 664.07 KB ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/357 "2023-12-14T03:03:27Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I’m sure they’ll come up with specific high crimes and misdemeanors any day now. But first, impeachment! Well when it came to Obamacare, Pelosi said they needed to pass it to see what’s in it so sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/358 "2023-12-14T03:04:16Z")
Another interesting thread ruined. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/359 "2023-12-14T03:09:25Z")
Yes, because that’s how passing bills works. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995/360 "2023-12-14T03:10:45Z")
I’m sorry, but that seems to be about 214 pages. Is there something specific that you think we should look at that bolsters your assertions? Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-to-start-an-impeachment-inquiry-into-president-biden/989995.md?page=19)