House Republicans issued subpoenas to President Biden’s son and brother on Wednesday, taking their most aggressive step yet in an impeachment inquiry that Democrats fiercely oppose and that limits the reach of House oversight powers. puts Congress to the test.

The long-awaited move by Rep. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to subpoena Biden’s son Hunter and brother James comes as Republicans look to gain ground in their nearly year-long investigation. So far, they have been unable to uncover evidence that directly implicates the president in any wrongdoing.

But Republicans say the evidence they have uncovered paints a disturbing picture of the influence Biden’s family wields in their business dealings, especially with foreign clients.

“Now the House Oversight Committee will engage members of the Biden family and their associates to question them based on this evidence,” Comer said in a statement.

The stakes are extremely high as the investigation could lead to Republicans filing impeachment charges against Biden, the ultimate punishment for what the U.S. Constitution describes as high crimes and misdemeanors.

The subpoenas require Hunter and James Biden, as well as former business partner Rob Walker, to appear before the Oversight Committee for a deposition by mid-December. Lawmakers also requested that Sara Biden, James Biden’s wife, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s son Beau, voluntarily appear for transcribed interviews.

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Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, called the subpoenas yet another political stunt and said the investigation was riddled with threadbare, false, baseless or debunked claims.

Lowell added that his client would nevertheless “like to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at an appropriate time, to discuss these matters with the committee.”

A lawyer for James Biden said there was no justification for the subpoena because the committee had already reviewed private banking records and transactions between him and the president. The committee found records of two loans that occurred when Biden was not in office or running for president.

There is nothing more to those transactions, and there is nothing wrong with them,” attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement late Wednesday. “And Jim Biden never involved his brother in his business dealings.”

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The White House has consistently dismissed the investigation as a political ploy aimed at hurting the president. They say the investigation is a blatant attempt to help former President Trump, the early front-runner for the Republican Party’s 2024 nomination, as he runs for the White House again.

These subpoenas and interview requests are further evidence that this sham impeachment inquiry is driven solely by the demands of the vindictive and defamatory Donald Trump, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement.

The impeachment inquiry slowed in early October after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) was ousted as speaker by a handful of fellow Republicans, halting congressional legislative business and investigations as the conference spent weeks choosing his eventual replacement , Representative Mike Johnson of the Republicans. Louisiana.

Now that he has settled into the speakership, Johnson has given his blessing to the investigation and has hinted that a decision on whether to pursue articles of impeachment against Biden could come soon.

I think we have a constitutional responsibility to follow this truth where it leads, Johnson recently told Fox News. He also said in a separate Fox interview that he would support Comer’s decision to subpoena the president’s son, saying: Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that may be too late.

In a letter to Johnson on Wednesday morning, Lowell had urged the new chairman to rein in party political games.

Since January, Republicans have been investigating the Biden family for what they allege is a pattern of influence peddling dating back to when Biden was President Obama’s vice president. Comer claims the committee has uncovered a mountain of evidence showing how Biden abused his power and repeatedly lied about a wall between his political position and his son’s private business.

While questions have been raised about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international affairs, no evidence has emerged to prove that Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes.

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Over the summer, Republicans expanded their probe to include oversight of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden and allegations that the case was plagued by interference.

One focus of the congressional investigation was whether the special counsel overseeing the case, David Weiss, had full authority to bring charges against the president’s youngest son. In an unprecedented interview Tuesday, Weiss told lawmakers he was the decision-maker in a yearslong case over Hunter Biden’s taxes and gun use.

No one at the Justice Department, including U.S. attorneys or the Internal Revenue Service, blocked or prevented him from filing charges or taking other necessary steps in the investigation, Weiss said.

The five-year investigation into Hunter Biden was expected to end with a plea deal this summer, but it imploded during a plea hearing in July. Weiss has now charged the president’s son with three gun crimes related to the 2018 gun purchase, during a period when Hunter Biden has acknowledged he was addicted to drugs. No new tax assessments have been submitted.