US House Republicans announce investigation into President Biden

The new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives have requested information from Twitter and the Treasury Department.

Republican politicians have promised to pursue ‘troubling questions’ about alleged business dealings in US President Joe Biden’s family [File: Saul Loeb/ AFP]

Republicans in the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday opened their long-promised investigation into Democratic President Joe Biden and his family, wielding the power of their new majority to demand information from the Treasury Department and former Twitter executives as they laid the groundwork for public hearings.

“Now that Democrats no longer have one-party rule in Washington, oversight and accountability are coming,” Kentucky Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

The Republican-led committee sent a series of letters requesting financial information from the Treasury Department about transactions by members of the Biden family that were flagged as suspicious activity. Those reports are routine, with larger financial transactions automatically flagged to the government and are not evidence of misconduct on their own.

Legislators also requested testimony from multiple former Twitter executives who were involved in the company’s handling of an October 2020 story from the New York Post about Hunter Biden, the president’s younger son. Republicans say that story was suppressed on the social media platform for political reasons.

Moving quickly after taking control of the House, Republicans are setting up a messy, politically explosive showdown with the White House that could delve deeply into the affairs of the president’s family and shape the contours of the 2024 race for the White House.

“In their first week as a governing majority, House Republicans have not taken any meaningful action to address inflation and lower Americans’ costs,” White House spokesperson Ian Sims said in a statement.

“Yet they’re jumping out of the gate with political stunts driven by the most extreme MAGA members of their caucus in an effort to get attention on Fox News,” he continued, referencing the acronym for former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again” (MAGA).

In a statement, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the senior Democrat on the Oversight Committee, echoed the White House’s response, saying Democrats will work with Republicans “when they get serious about tackling problems that affect the American people”.

The Treasury Department declined to comment.

Comer and other Republicans set out their plan for probing the Biden family the day after clinching a slim majority in the November midterm elections.

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