The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has invited President Biden to testify publicly as part of their ongoing impeachment inquiry. The invitation, sent in a seven-page letter by Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, asked Mr. Biden to appear on April 16 to explain his involvement with his family’s sources of income. While it is not common for sitting presidents to testify before congressional committees, it has happened three times in American history, with the most recent instance occurring in 1974 when President Gerald Ford testified about his decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon. However, it is highly unlikely that President Biden will accept the invitation to testify.
The impeachment inquiry has been stalled after testimony from the president’s son, Hunter Biden, failed to provide any smoking gun evidence. The inquiry has focused on allegations that the president profited from his family members’ foreign business dealings while he was vice president. Despite these allegations, no evidence of impeachable offenses has been uncovered, and the inquiry suffered a setback when a Trump-appointed special counsel charged a one-time FBI informant for allegedly lying about the president and his son accepting bribes from a Ukrainian energy company. These claims were central to Republicans’ argument that the president acted improperly to benefit from his family’s business dealings.
In a closed-door deposition in February, Hunter Biden told investigators that his father was not involved in his business deals. He was then invited to publicly testify at a March hearing on the family’s alleged influence peddling, but declined to appear. Hunter Biden’s lawyer criticized the hearing, calling it a “planned-for-media event” and an “obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended.” The Democratic minority on the committee has also criticized the inquiry, calling it a “circus” and stating that it is time to “fold up the tent.”
The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as a “sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment.” The committee chairman, Rep. Comer, teased a formal request for President Biden’s testimony last week, which was met with skepticism from the White House. While the invitation for President Biden to testify publicly is unprecedented, it is unlikely that he will accept the invitation. The impeachment inquiry has faced challenges in finding evidence of wrongdoing by the president, despite allegations of profiting from family business dealings. The future of the inquiry remains uncertain as both Republicans and Democrats continue to clash over the investigation.
