There are serious allegations, as yet inconclusively proven, that then-Vice President Joe Biden accepted a substantial bribe from the top executive at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, where son Hunter Biden held a lucrative board position, in exchange for pressuring the Ukrainian government to fire a top prosecutor who was investigating the company and executive for corruption.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued this week that, if the allegation is proven true and President Biden is guilty of bribery, he should be impeached and removed from office and then be criminally prosecuted and sent to prison, according to Breitbart.
During an appearance Thursday on "Hannity," the Texas senator and Fox News host first discussed a CNN segment featuring host Jake Tapper and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that acknowledged the unseemly public perception of Hunter Biden's apparent influence-peddling but downplayed the allegations that President Biden had benefited from or was involved in his son's dubious foreign business dealings or bribery.
"Legally I see every single day the evidence is growing and growing and growing," Sen. Cruz said. "And we're also seeing Jake Tapper and Elizabeth Warren, neither the corporate media nor any Congressional Democrat cares at all whether the president of the United States received millions of dollars in bribes from foreign nationals."
"Even that little exchange there where Jake Tapper asked, well gosh, it was sort of influence peddling and isn't that bothersome," he continued. "No, those are not the allegations, Jake, you're a journalist, or you are supposed to be.
"The allegations are bribery. And it wasn't just Hunter selling access, it was Hunter selling official favors from his father, Joe Biden," Cruz stated.
The senator added, "Let's go to what that FD-1023 specifically says, the FBI form, a confidential human source that had been reliable previously to the FBI came forward and said hey, that the oligarch who owns Burisma paid $5 million to Hunter Biden and $5 million to Joe Biden in exchange for Joe Biden's help getting rid of the prosecutor that was investigating Burisma and investigating that oligarch."
"Now, what is bribery? The essence of bribery is a quid pro quo, we remember from the first impeachment, the media -- Jake knows what a quid pro quo is, he talked about it incessantly when it concerned Donald Trump," Sen. Cruz said. "A quid pro quo is Latin -- for this, for that. Bribery is paying something of value in exchange for an official favor."
"Now, the quo we know happened because as you noted, Joe Biden has confessed to it in a video interview where he said he went to Ukraine, he held hostage a billion dollars in U.S. loan guarantees, and then demanded of the Ukrainian government fire the prosecutor that is investigating Burisma investigating the oligarch," he continued.
"We know the quo happened. The only question was did the quid happen? Did they pay $10 million for him to do so?" the Texas senator asked.
"If so, Joe Biden is guilty of bribery, Hunter is guilty of selling bribes, selling official favors from his father, and if that is the case Joe Biden should be impeached, he should be removed from office, he should be prosecuted and he should go to prison. And he should share a cell with Hunter for corrupting the government of the United States," Cruz added.
If Joe Biden took $5M in bribes, he should be thrown in prison—and he should be sharing a cell with Hunter. pic.twitter.com/GO1bvTnLih
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 11, 2023
For what it is worth, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been non-committal and dodgy with regard to a House Republican impeachment effort against President Joe Biden in relation to the allegations of bribery involving the Burisma executive.
That said, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) has pressed forward on his own with recently filed articles of impeachment that, among other things, include the allegation that the Biden family has "personally profited off Joe’s government positions through bribery, threats, and fraud." Whether Steube's articles gain traction and leadership support remains an unanswered question, however.
