The American people deserve the truth

On Sept. 12, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) announced that after spending months of following the facts, the U.S. House of Representatives will formally open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. This is the natural next step the House needs to take to continue an investigation into how Joe Biden abused public office for his family's financial gain.

Speaker McCarthy selected me as one of three committee chairs who will lead this impeachment inquiry. In June, I received testimony from two brave Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers who came before the Ways and Means Committee to allege how the Department of Justice delayed prosecution of the president's son for certain crimes by allowing the statute of limitations to expire; denied U.S. Attorney David Weiss's request to bring charges against Hunter Biden; and divulged certain key details of the IRS's investigation to Hunter Biden's own attorneys. Whistleblowers also provided a staggering amount of information about how the Biden family business deals worked -- including information that corroborated other whistleblowers' testimony that Joe Biden himself was far more involved in these business dealings that he had previously denied publicly. And so far, while Joe Biden's story has changed numerous times, the whistleblowers' testimony has stayed consistent and, in many instances, has been confirmed.

House Republicans have now uncovered an alarming amount of evidence showing Joe Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family's lucrative influence peddling schemes. We've uncovered bank records, suspicious activity reports, emails, texts and witness testimony that reveal that the president's family sold him as 'the brand' around the world to enrich the Bidens. And, thanks to the two brave IRS whistleblowers, we know that the Justice Department -- which has been sitting on much of this evidence -- has prevented career investigators from pursuing information that could have led to Joe Biden.

Over the last several months, Oversight Chairman James Comer (Ky.), Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio), and I have sent 16 letters to the Biden administration requesting documents and interviews with individuals we need to speak to as part of our investigation. Yet time and again, this administration has not provided the requested information. It's absolutely unacceptable, and exactly why my colleagues and I have issued subpoenas to force individuals to come forward and speak with our committees. Although we're still in the process of conducting these interviews, the individuals we've spoken to so far have provided information that's extremely valuable to our investigation.

With this impeachment inquiry, we'll finally get Americans the answers they deserve about whether Joe Biden used his public office to enrich his family and whether the Biden administration took official action to protect his son from being brought to justice. The American people deserve to know these facts.

From day one of our investigation, I have said that I will follow wherever the facts may lead. Already, our investigation has uncovered a mountain of evidence that should alarm every American, whether it's the numerous shell companies the Biden family set up to try and hide the nearly $20 million they made from foreign business deals, parts of the federal government interfering in the investigation into the president's son, or Joe Biden lying to the American people about his knowledge and involvement in his family's multimillion dollar business schemes. As our investigation moves forward, we will leave no stone unturned in our fight to get the American people the answers they deserve.

Jason Smith (R-MO) represents the eighth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.