House Speaker Mike Johnson signals Hunter Biden will be subpoenaed in Joe Biden impeachment inquiry

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested House Republicans will subpoena President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in their impeachment inquiry into the president, calling the move perhaps “overdue.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that perhaps is overdue,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We’re trying to move forward on this very aggressively.”

House Republicans allege the president financially benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings but have yet to produce concrete evidence Joe Biden received direct payments from sources overseas.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee, which is leading the impeachment inquiry, has been touting a $200,000 check James Biden, the president’s brother, sent to Joe Biden in 2018 as a “direct payment." However, reports suggest the payment was a repayment for a loan. House Republicans contend the White House should show documentation proving Biden made a loan to his brother.

Johnson’s predecessor, ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., opened the impeachment inquiry in September and argued the inquiry would provide House Republicans stronger authority to investigate Joe Biden and his family. Before his removal, McCarthy vowed that House Republicans would subpoena Hunter Biden at some point during the probe but did not commit to its timing.

Johnson, who became speaker last week, didn't depart from McCarthy's promises when speaking about the inquiry.

“I think the American people are owed these answers, and I think our suspicions about all this, the evidence that we’ve gathered so far, as you know, is affirming what many of us fear what may be the worst,” Johnson said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Johnson signals Hunter Biden to be called in impeachment inquiry