WASHINGTON, Nov 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US Republican party on Saturday
fought back against an impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump
by calling for the son of his main rival Joe Biden to be called as a witness.
Trump has accused the Bidens of unspecified corruption due to Hunter
Biden’s role as a director of Ukraine energy company Burisma when Joe Biden –
– now a leading candidate to challenge Trump in the 2020 election — was vice
president.
Devin Nunes, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee,
which is holding impeachment hearings, said Burisma reportedly paid Hunter
Biden $50,000 a month to sit on its board.
Hunter Biden’s “firsthand experiences with Burisma can assist the American
public in understanding the nature and extent of Ukraine’s pervasive
corruption,” Nunes wrote.
Trump has dismissed all allegations of misconduct after he pressed Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a graft investigation into the Bidens.
Nunes said testimony from Hunter Biden would boost transparency in an
“opaque and unfair process.”
He also called for the whistleblower who reported a July phone call between
Trump and Zelensky to be called as a witness.
Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, must approve witness
requests submitted by Republicans.
Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff, who is leading the impeachment probe, said
the Intelligence Committee would “give due consideration to witnesses within
the scope of the impeachment inquiry.”
But he vowed the inquiry would not be “a vehicle to undertake the same sham
investigations into the Bidens… that the president pressed Ukraine to
conduct for his personal political benefit.”
The Democrats are aiming to make Trump only the third president in US
history to be impeached, which would see him go on trial for removal in the
Republican-dominated Senate.
Trump has defended the July phone call with Zelensky, despite the rough
transcript released by the White House appearing to support the allegations
against him.
More than a dozen witnesses so far appear to have also broadly backed the
Democrats’ allegations, which include a charge that Trump held up military
aid for Ukraine to force it to investigate the Bidens.
The impeachment hearings have been held behind closed doors but will be
held in public starting next week.