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House Republicans unveil resolution to authorize Biden impeachment investigation
Washington — House Republicans unveiled a resolution Thursday to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Biden, a move aimed at giving the GOP-led committees more firepower to look into his family’s business dealings as lawmakers search for evidence of wrongdoing.
Formalizing the impeachment investigation, which has been underway for months, could throw more legal weight behind subpoenas as Republicans on the House Oversight, Ways and Means, and Judiciary Committees seek documents and testimony. The 14-page resolution lays out rules for public hearings and directs the committees to produce a public report with their findings.
“The impeachment inquiry strengthens our hand when we go to court against this administration or anyone who refuses our subpoena,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky on Thursday.
The Biden impeachment push
Republicans have been trying to show that Mr. Biden was enriched by his family’s foreign business dealings and that he accepted bribes, but have produced no evidence so far that the president engaged in any wrongdoing.
The House Rules Committee said will consider the resolution on Tuesday, teeing it up for a potential vote on the House floor before lawmakers leave Washington on Dec. 14 for the holidays.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana argued earlier this week that formalizing the inquiry was a necessary step because of “stonewalling” from the White House.
“They’re refusing to turn over key witnesses to allow them to testify as they’ve been subpoenaed,” Johnson said. “They’re refusing to turn over thousands of documents for the National Archives.”
He said it was “not a political decision,” but a “legal decision.”
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment and that’s a necessary constitutional step and I believe we’ll get every vote that we have,” Johnson said. “Whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now.”
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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry in a last-ditch effort to appease conservative detractors in September, one which ultimately proved futile when he was ousted just weeks later. But the full House never voted to authorize the probe, as it had in previous impeachment investigations. The lack of a formal endorsement by the House raised questions about the legitimacy of the effort, concerns that Republicans are now hoping to address through a vote on the resolution.
Some GOP lawmakers who were previously opposed to an impeachment inquiry have since changed their minds.
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who originally warned against launching an investigation, said Thursday the vote was necessary because Mr. Biden is “refusing” to hand over documents.
“Impeachment with the information we have would be a problem,” Bacon said, adding that the threshold for high crimes and misdemeanors has not yet been met.
The White House has said Republicans have already acquired thousands of pages of bank records and documents and hours of testimony that show no wrongdoing by the president. On Thursday, White House spokesperson Ian Sams called the resolution a “baseless stunt.” Last month, the White House denied House Republicans’ request to interview members of the president’s staff and family in a separate but related inquiry into the handling of classified documents
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has named a number of people in Mr. Biden’s orbit that the committees want to interview as part of the impeachment probe in the coming months, including the president’s brother James Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The Oversight Committee issued subpoenas for James and Hunter Biden’s personal business records in September.
In 2019, the Democratic-led House approved a similar resolution to authorize the impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump as witnesses resisted requests for congressional testimony.
Ellis Kim and Jaala Brown contributed reporting.
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Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in path of Lake Fire as it burns more than 16,000 acres in Santa Barbara County
Firefighters are continuing an uphill battle in Santa Barbara County, where the Lake Fire swelled to more than 16,000 acres over the weekend.
The blaze was first reported on Friday at around 3:45 p.m. near Zaca Lake and Saint Lucia Road, according to Cal Fire.
After more than 48 hours, the fire has consumed 16,452 acres and remains just 8% contained with more than 600 firefighters currently engaged in the firefight. On top of ground units, 10 helicopters and numerous other water-dropping aircraft are assisting with the ongoing suppression efforts.
Not only are they dealing with exceedingly dry conditions, crews are also forced to work with the sweltering heat wave that has swathed most of Southern California in triple degree temperatures over the weekend.
So far one structure has been damaged and one injury has been reported, Cal Fire said. Among the homes threatened by the rapidly spreading flames is Michael Jackson’s former residence, the famed Neverland Ranch, located in the 5000 block of Figueroa Mountain Road. He owned the 2,700-acre property from 1988 until his death in 2009.
An evacuation order was issued late Saturday evening for Figueroa Mountain Road to Sawmill Basin, including Tunnel Road and the Figueroa Campground.
DANIEL DREIFUSS/AFP via Getty Images
Additionally, evacuation warnings have also been issued for Figueroa Mountain Road to Chamberlin Ranch and Zaca Lake Road, Foxen Canyon Road and the area south of the Sisquoc River, firefighters said.
It remains unclear what sparked the massive fire, which is now the second largest reported in California since the start of 2024.
The Lake Fire is one of several large wildfires currently burning in California. The Thompson Fire, currently raging in Butte County near Chico, has torched more than a dozen homes, while the Basin Fire near Fresno has engulfed more than 14,000 acres.
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The turbulent courtship between Paramount Global-parent National Amusements and Skydance Media is back on less than a month after the sides abruptly ended merger talks.
Paramount, owner of Paramount Pictures movie and television studios, the CBS television network and CBS News, announced in a news release that it is merging with Skydance, an entertainment business founded by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Paramount also owns the Paramount+ streaming service, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.
The transaction resolves months of speculation around the future of Paramount, which also reportedly attracted a $26 billion bid from a consortium including Sony Pictures and private equity firm Apollo Global Management. A range of prominent media and entertainment industry executives were also said to have expressed interest in a possible deal for Paramount.
Under the terms of the latest deal, Skydance would pay $2.4 billion for National Amusements, which controls 77% of the voting shares for Paramount, while shareholders with non-voting stock will receive $15 per share or one share of non-voting stock in the new company.
The deal also gives other potential bidders for Paramount 45 days to submit a competing offer, an apparent effort to appease shareholders who felt Skydance’s initial bid undervalued their stake in the media company.
Uniting old and new Hollywood
The deal unites Paramount — a storied movie studio dating back to 1912 that is known for film classics such as “Titanic,” “The Godfather” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” as well as franchises including “Star Trek” and “Mission Impossible” — with a relative newcomer to the entertainment industry. Since David Ellison launched Skydance in 2010, the company has produced or co-produced hit films and TV shows including “Top Gun: Maverick” and the “Reacher” streaming series.
For Shari Redstone, controlling shareholder of National Amusements, the deal brings to a close her family’s long stewardship of Paramount, which was built on the foundation laid by her late father, entertainment mogul Sumner Redstone. In recent years, that effort has focused on growing Paramount’s streaming footprint, along with the continued expansion of its core network TV, cable and movie businesses.
In its most recent quarter, Paramount reported an operating loss of $417 million on revenue of $7.6 billion, compared with a loss of $1.2 billion on revenue of $7.2 billion in the year-ago period. Skydance, which is privately held, expects its annual revenue to reach $1 billion in 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The merger with Skydance follows what has been a delicate negotiation in which Paramount executives sought to balance the interests of investors who own the company’s voting shares — which are primarily controlled by Redstone — and investors with non-voting stock. The latter are represented by large institutional investors such as Berkshire Hathaway and Vanguard, according to financial data firm FactSet.
The merger also follows the April 29 departure of former Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish, who was replaced by an Office of the CEO led by three division chiefs: George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios; and Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.
After the initial deal to combine National Amusements and Skydance collapsed on June 11, Paramount’s new leadership disclosed plans to cut costs by $500 million, explore a joint venture or other possible partnerships for Paramount+, and sell non-core assets. It is uncertain how that blueprint could change under Skydance’s watch.
The sale of Paramount also highlights ongoing consolidation within the media space as industry stalwarts like Paramount and CBS seek to compete with much larger competitors, including technology and entertainment companies.