"Republicans said there is 'overwhelming evidence' that Biden participated in a 'conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family.'"

"They alleged that the Biden family and their business associates received tens of millions of dollars from foreign interests by 'leading those interests to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with President Biden.' The committees said the Biden family and its associates received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities since 2014.... 'Based on the totality of evidence, it is inconceivable that President Biden did not understand that he was taking part in an effort to enrich his family by abusing his office of public trust,' the report states...."

From "Biden committed ‘impeachable conduct,’ ‘defrauded United States to enrich his family’: House GOP report/House Oversight, Judiciary, Ways and Means committees have led impeachment inquiry against Biden" (Fox News).

Interesting timing: Biden is scheduled to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention tonight, opening night. 

"The United States House of Representatives rejected impeachment charges against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary..."

"... on Tuesday after a small group of Republicans broke with their party and refused to support what amounted to a partisan indictment of President Biden’s immigration policies. The 216-214 vote dealt a stunning defeat to Speaker Mike Johnson, who had expressed confidence that he had the votes to charge Mr. Mayorkas with high crimes and misdemeanors for failing to lock down the United States border with Mexico amid a migrant surge, a move that Republicans have been promising for more than a year."

The NYT reports.

Good. As I wrote on January 28th, "What's the 'high crime'/'misdemeanor' bringing this policy disagreement within the constitutional power to impeach?"

"This is why we cheer for Rocky. Rocky is not supposed to win, but he wins. And that’s to me America. And Hunter is not supposed to win."

"He should be dead. And he faced a crossroad in his life, which we all do when we’re all struggling with things in our lives. And he could have chosen the easy path, which is to keep going and die, or do the hard thing, which is to change."

Said Georges Bergès, the owner of the gallery that sold Hunter Biden's artwork, testifying before House Judiciary and Oversight committee, quoted in newly released transcripts and reported in "Hunter Biden’s paintings have sold for a total of $1.5 million/Gallery owner, a Trump donor, has sold the work to 10 buyers; some bought multiple paintings" (WaPo).

The biggest buyer of the art — who bought 11 paintings for $875,000 — was Kevin Morris. Morris, we're told, "has become one of Biden’s closest friends while also acting as an attorney and financial benefactor."

"House Set to Approve Biden Impeachment Inquiry as It Hunts for an Offense."

The NYT reports (with distaste).

G.O.P. leaders refrained for months from calling a vote to open an impeachment inquiry.... But the political ground has shifted considerably, and most of them are now willing to do so, emphasizing that they are not yet ready to charge the president.... 

"And, you know, it’s insulting that we have idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Jim Jordan. I mean, you just name all of the nonsense Republicans."

"And they sit on this committee, and they sit there so high and mighty. And they talk noise constantly and they’re like, 'Oh, the Biden crime family.' And I’m like, 'I’m sorry. Have you met the Trumps?!'"

 
Said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), quoted in "It’s 'insulting' to have 'nonsense Republicans' on Biden impeachment inquiry panel, Democrat says" (The Hill).

Meanwhile: "House Rules Committee meets ahead of vote on Biden impeachment inquiry: Watch live" (The Hill).

I'm reading a Vox article from 4 years ago — December 12, 2019.

The headline is "Gaetz’s effort to make the impeachment hearing about Hunter Biden’s problems backfired spectacularly":

During Thursday’s impeachment hearing, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee repeatedly tried to shift the focus from President Donald Trump’s apparent abuse of power to the Bidens — their goal being to establish that Trump had legitimate reasons to try and cajole the Ukrainian government into investigating one of his domestic political foes.

"With a formal House vote on an impeachment inquiry expected next week, President Joe Biden was confronted this week about his knowledge and involvement..."

"... in alleged influence peddling by his son and brothers. An irate Biden seemed to morph into Bill Clinton and — echoing his predecessor’s 'I did not have sex with that woman' denial of an earlier scandal — effectively declared that he did not have relations with 'those people.' As with Clinton, the denial was absurd, even insulting. Roughly 70% of voters (including 40% of Democrats) believe Biden has acted either unlawfully or unethically in the overseas business dealings of his family. More importantly, the House has interviews, documents, photos and even audiotapes contradicting Biden's continuing denial of having any knowledge of his son's financial dealings.... Bill Clinton eventually gave a redemptive-sinner speech and effectively confessed to being a cad. Yet for Biden, after years of categorical denials, it will be a bit more difficult to reveal himself or his family as being corrupt.... Influence peddling... involves the selling of access to or influence on one's public office. Even if you claim the money did not influence your decisions, knowledge of or interaction with such corruption undermines both the office and the public trust...."

Writes Jonathan Turley, in "'Bunch of Lies': Biden’s Clintonesque Denial Before a House Impeachment Inquiry Vote" (The Messenger).

By the way, the famous Clinton quote is not "I did not have sex with that woman." It is "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Does it matter? Substantively, it depends. Formally, yes. The material within quotation marks must be exact, and later in the column, Turley does get the quote right.

If Clinton hadn't lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky — and maybe he didn't (if "sexual relations" meant penis-in-vagina sex) — there would have been no "high crimes and misdemeanors" to accuse him of committing. He just lied about sex. But what Biden is lying about — if he is lying — are distinct crimes that undermine his fitness for office.

"Despite the Bidens’ denials about money, it seems to be everywhere and nowhere — metastasizing and spreading..."

"... throughout the dozens of accounts, banks and family members identified by House investigators. Yet many in the media and most Democratic members of Congress appear to be firmly committed to assuring that all of this remains 'a wonderful life' for Joe Biden and his family."

 
Writes Jonathan Turley, in "Government on Loan: The Biden Family’s Version of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’" (The Messenger).

The "wonderful life" reference is set up in the first 2 paragraphs:

"That’s up to them if they want to do impeachment or impeachment inquiry. I have no idea whether they will or not, we do have a lot of other things. But it’s quite important, and they did it to me."

Said Trump, quoted in "Trump keeps distance from impeachment inquiry while assailing Biden/The former president has shown more interest in lobbying to expunge his own impeachments" (WaPo).

I like the elegance of his distancing: "But it’s quite important, and they did it to me."

They did it to me.... 

Without choosing one or the other, Trump invokes 2 of the greatest concepts in the history of human ethics: The Golden Rule and Tit For Tat.

Matt Gaetz lambastes McCarthy: "Mr. Speaker, you are out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role."

Text:

For the Annals of Men in Shorts.

.@SenFettermanPA reacts to Speaker McCarthy moving forward with a House impeachment inquiry into POTUS…

(Just watch) pic.twitter.com/jg3aeyDW7F

— Liz Brown-Kaiser (@lizbrownkaiser) September 12, 2023

Amazing to dress like that at a serious job, but other than that, I see no problem with his use of sarcasm. As far as I'm concerned, he can go on to all the tricks — irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes, and satire.