President Biden on Wednesday said that talk of any interaction with his son and brother’s foreign business associates are lies,” pushing back on the notion as House Republicans plan a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry.
When asked by a reporter why he interacted with so many of his son and brother’s foreign business associates, the president replied, “I’m not going to comment on that. I did not and it’s just a bunch of lies.”
The reporter pressed, asking if he didn’t interact with these associates.
“I did not, there’s lies,” Biden said.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is planning a vote for next week on the inquiry after months of congressional investigations attempting to paint Biden as corrupt.
Throughout the investigations, led by Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), House Republicans have alleged that Biden and his family accepted money from foreign interests in what they deemed as suspicious financial deals.
The inquiry has been multipronged, including probing the foreign business activities of Biden’s son Hunter Biden and other family members like his brother, James Biden.
The inquiry has also involved disputed and shaky allegations that Biden as vice president used policy pressure to benefit Ukrainian energy company Burisma and whether the Department of Justice improperly slow-walked a tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden.
The White House, meanwhile, has been stepping up its criticism of the inquiry, making a concerted effort recently to tie the GOP conference to its more far-right members and put moderate Republicans in a political dilemma.