Hunter Biden calls Republican-led impeachment inquiry "baseless" political charade

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden on Wednesday said that the impeachment inquiry led by the Republican Party was a "baseless" and "destructive" political charade.

In his prepared opening statement at a closed-door deposition held by two Republican-led House committees, Hunter Biden said he did not involve his father in his business.

"For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad," he said.

"You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn't any," he said, referring to the slogan of Make America Great Again, which was used to refer to Donald Trump's political base.

In December, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted to formally authorize the impeachment inquiry into Democratic President Joe Biden, escalating the battle between the White House and Republicans ahead of election year.

The formal authorization came after months of investigations by House Republicans into the business dealings of members of the Biden family, in an attempt to find out whether the president improperly profited from his son's overseas business dealings.

So far, ethical concerns have been raised by Republicans, but no substantiated evidence has surfaced to demonstrate that Biden, in his current or past official capacities, engaged in the misuse of his position or accepted illicit payments.