White House pushes back against Biden impeachment ‘lies’

Letter to newspapers and TV networks says the inquiry had no evidence and should ‘set off alarm bells for news organisations’.

Joe Biden meets service members at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, earlier this week. Picture: AFP

The White House began its fightback on Wednesday against the move to impeach President Joe Biden, urging media organisations to investigate the evidence that Republicans claim shows a “culture of corruption” around the President.

A letter sent to US newspapers and television networks said the inquiry had no evidence and should “set off alarm bells for news organisations”.

Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, said that media groups and journalists needed to avoid false equivalence in their reporting. “Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable,” he said. “It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of house Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.”

On Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, announced the impeachment inquiry into Mr Biden and the allegations linking him to the business dealings of his son Hunter.

Yielding to mounting pressure from Donald Trump — who was twice impeached — and his allies in congress, Mr McCarthy called for a deeper investigation into the “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” against the Biden family.

Months of Republican investigation into Hunter’s business affairs have uncovered evidence that he traded on his family name to secure lucrative deals with foreign companies, but have yet to show that Joe Biden profited from them.

The Times