It now appears that President Joe Biden likely will be impeached, Michael Goodwin wrote in a New York Post opinion article on Sunday.
Last week's announcement by House Oversight Chair James Comer that he subpoenaed the president's son Hunter and brother Jim, among other relatives, demonstrates that the investigation is now in a new phase, what Goodwin described as "if the preliminary stage is complete and the final act is about to unfold."
The subpoenas came after the discovery of two checks written to Joe from brother Jim and Jim's wife, which both had the words "loan repayment" in the memo space.
Goodwin pointed out that the transfers came to Joe within days of the family receiving large payments from clients that went through a convoluted series of bank accounts.
One of the clients, a Chinese energy company, sent $5 million to a joint account controlled by Hunter Biden and a Chinese national. The money arrived days after Hunter declared on a 2017 WhatsApp message that he was with his father and both would not forget a failure to send the money, which Hunter claimed was owed for previous work.
According to Comer, soon after the $5 million arrived, $400,000 was transferred to an account owned by Hunter. He then wired $150,000 to another account controlled by Jim and Sara Biden. She withdrew $50,000 in cash, deposited it into her and Jim's personal checking account and days later, sent a check to Joe Biden for $40,000.
The amount, which is 10% of Hunter's $400,000, correlates with the percentage of the agreement Hunter was said to be secretly holding for the "big guy."
Comer pointed out that even if the payments were indeed to cover loans, they still would prove the essence of the impeachment case – that the president directly benefited from his family's deals to sell his "brand."
By taking Chinese funds, "Joe Biden exposed himself to future blackmail and put America's interests behind his own desire for money," Comer charged.
Goodwin emphasized that the investigation is designated a "preliminary impeachment inquiry," which provides it more power than a normal congressional subpoena to compel documents and testimony.
The next stage would be a formal impeachment process, which in most cases leads to articles of impeachment and a full House vote.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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