(DailyVantage.com) – Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma has cautioned House Republicans about the limitations of impeaching President Biden for any actions or crimes committed before he assumed office in 2020. In an interview with Newsmax, Mullin downplayed the House GOP investigation into Biden’s family business dealings, explicitly focusing on Hunter Biden’s involvement with foreign companies. At the same time, Joe Biden served as vice president.
Mullin emphasized that for any high crimes or misdemeanors to form the basis of articles of impeachment, they must have been committed while Biden held the current office of president. He noted that actions taken during Biden’s vice presidency or the period between the two offices may not be impeachable. Mullin advised his colleagues to ensure that any case they present is “convictable,” highlighting the high bar required for conviction.
This viewpoint mirrors the stance adopted by numerous Senate Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, the current Senate GOP Leader. They voted to acquit former President Trump on the basis that he was no longer in office when the Senate conducted the trial for incitement of insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Mullin’s statement comes just days after the House passed a resolution authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden. The resolution focuses on whether Biden improperly benefited from his son’s business dealings with foreign entities. In a defiant news conference outside the Capitol, Hunter Biden declared that his father had no financial involvement in his various business ventures, including his work as a lawyer, his position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and his partnership with a Chinese private businessman.
The House GOP investigators are particularly interested in events between 2014 and 2017, during Joe Biden’s vice presidency and immediately after he left that office. However, other Republican senators, such as Senate Republican Whip John Thune and Senator John Cornyn, doubt the possibility of convicting Biden in a Democratic-controlled Senate. To achieve a conviction and remove Biden from office, 67 votes would be required, meaning at least 18 Democrats would need to vote in favor of a conviction.
As the impeachment inquiry proceeds, the focus will shift to whether the evidence presented meets the demanding conviction standards set by Mullin and other Senate Republicans.
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