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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.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.