Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown (D-!!)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans  took a significant step this week towards trying to impeach President Joe Biden, officially initiating an impeachment inquiry on Wednesday via a party-line vote.

The House voted  221-212 to formally pursue the impeachment inquiry, a blow to the president's campaign as he seeks reelection in 2024 and a move that has upset congressional Democrats who narrowly control the Senate but are in the minority in the House of Representatives.

Republicans claim the president financially benefited from his family’s foreign business relationships, including those of his embattled son, Hunter Biden. They claim that the White House is not cooperating with an investigation over the matter and vow to take it to court.

A vice president under President Obama for two terms, Biden says his administration has been more than cooperative with respect to the investigation.

He won the presidential election in 2020 over then President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination.

The president remains diplomatic as he campaigns for reelection, though he has taken a harder stance in recent weeks, branding Trump a dictator and a danger to America.

Democrats contend that House Republicans have not released any substantive evidence of wrongdoing by the president, which is fueling the controversy that Democrats say is nothing more than a witch-hunt.

Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Shontel Brown, a Biden ally who's congressional district includes Cleveland, is among the House Democrats who voted against the measure.

The congresswoman called the impeachment inquiry a sham and a political stunt, releasing the following statement in a news release  to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com on Wednesday:

"This vote is the culmination of a year of dysfunction and distraction from House Republicans. This sham investigation is un-serious, unsubstantial, and unnecessary. Republicans have spent years investigating and have found no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. None, in fact. All that has been revealed is that House Republicans have the wrong priorities. Republicans are not interested in lowering costs for families, growing the middle class, or making our communities safer______As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, I can attest first-hand that the Biden administration has bent over backwards to meet the absurd demands in this investigation. But extreme MAGA Republicans aren't interested in the facts, because the facts are not on their side.____My constituents in Northeast Ohio see this for what it is, a political stunt. Let's end the stunts and serve the people."

This is a continuing story.