As the Biden corruption probe broadens, and more evidence comes to the fore of possible bribery of the Biden family by foreign powers, a question arises: What do Americans think should be done if the allegations are true? The overwhelming response: Biden should leave or be removed from office and not run again, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
In an earlier story we wondered: "If any of these charges are shown to be true, can Biden weather the ensuing political storm? Or will he face a choice of impeachment or resignation, a la Richard Nixon, and thereby force the Democrats to find a new standard bearer in 2024?"
In our online poll of 1,341 adults taken from July 5-7, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, we answered that question: Biden is not likely to weather the political storm.
A strong majority of 63% in our poll suggested that President Joe Biden should either be impeached (33%) or resign immediately (30%) if the charges prove true. Just 20% said Biden should "Stay in office and run again in 2024, if he wishes." Another 17% said they weren't sure.
Broken down further, the data suggest big political trouble lurking for Biden as more revelations emerge from ongoing congressional and Justice Department investigations.
It's no surprise that 85% of Republicans think Biden should be impeached (53%) or quit (32%) if the charges prove true.
Any presidential candidate in 2024 must have electoral support from independents to win. However, independents break 64% for Biden's removal from office through impeachment (33%) or resignation (31%). Another 15% say he should be able to run again, while 21% say they're "not sure."
But it's within his own party that Biden will truly have a tough time making a case for a second term. Democrats, by a plurality of 45% (impeach or resign) to 35% (stay in office and run again), believe it would be best for Biden to leave office either by being impeached (19%) or by resigning (26%) if the charges prove true, which seems increasingly likely.
In short, virtually all major demographic groups say Biden should ride off into the sunset if evidence shows he and his family took money from foreign powers while he was in office as vice president and, possibly, as president.
And right now, the evidence of wrongdoing is piling up, at least if recent testimony and Hunter Biden's own plea deal are to be believed.
As George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley recently has noted, "Starting with his campaign for the presidency and continuing until recently, President Biden has maintained one clear and consistent position on his son's influence-peddling schemes. As a virtual mantra, Biden — and the White House staff — have categorically maintained that he had no knowledge of any foreign dealings of his son."
Yet, Hunter Biden admitted in court during his failed plea deal hearing last week that he received over half a million dollars from a company with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), appearing to contradict his father’s earlier claim that no one in the Biden family made any “money from China.”
“My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China,” Joe Biden, speaking to President Donald Trump, said during a 2020 debate. “The only guy who made money from China is this guy (Trump). He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”
As we noted earlier this month, Hunter Biden requested $10 million from his Chinese partners in the CEFC energy firm because, as Hunter noted, the Bidens do "exactly what the chairman wants."
In this case, the "chairman" was "CEFC’s chairman Ye Jianming, who paid Hunter a $1 million retainer fee for legal services in 2017. Hunter also received a large diamond from Ye in February 2017 worth an estimated $80,000," as reported by Breitbart.
And that's just one instance of Biden's alleged money-making from his official positions in government.
An FBI document, FD-1023, which was obtained by the congressional committee investigating Biden family corruption, cites an informant who alleged that Joe Biden and Hunter received two $5 million payments from Ukraine energy giant Burisima. Hunter Biden was placed on the company's board of directors, despite having no significant experience of any kind in the energy field.
In testimony video-taped while in hiding, a key witness also testified that the Biden family was tipped off by the Justice Department about an ongoing corruption investigation into the Bidens' questionable dealings.
That witness, Dr. Gal Luft, an Israeli who previously co-headed a think tank in Washington along with former CIA Director James Woolsey, also claimed a DOJ official shared classified information with both the Bidens and their Chinese partners.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who heads the investigation into the Bidens, claims that banking statements, along with as many as 20 shell companies set specifically up to take in payments from overseas, suggest the Biden family could have taken $40 million or more in bribes.
“This was organized crime," Comer said. "There’s no other way to define it.”
In yet another recent revelation, the Bidens received $1 million in 17 separate payments from a Romanian who was later convicted of corruption. Sixteen of those payments, Fox News reports, went to Biden shell companies.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last week that the findings so far in the Biden corruption investigation are "rising to the level of an impeachment inquiry." An inquiry isn't an impeachment, but rather a first step taken before deciding on actual impeachment.
Still, in our July poll, 56% said they thought it was "likely" Biden took bribes. If evidence of Biden-family bribes continues to grow, Congress may be forced to act, or face some very angry American voters in 2024.
I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past five presidential elections.
Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.
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