Brooks: Hunter Peddling Influence ‘Merits an Inquiry’ But There Shouldn’t Be Impeachment Inquiry

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling “merits an inquiry.” But “I don’t think there should be an impeachment inquiry about it.” Brooks also stated that President Joe Biden “was somewhat involved in some of the conversations, maybe only in small talk. But he was somewhat involved.”

Brooks said, “[T]he influence peddling should be investigated. I don’t think there should be an impeachment inquiry about it. But Hunter Biden was in the business of peddling influence. And it’s not clear he actually peddled any influence. It’s not clear his dad did anything. But it should be looked into. His dad was somewhat involved in some of the conversations, maybe only in small talk. But he was somewhat involved. And so, we should know whether Hunter Biden’s business was a sham, pretending to peddle influence that he didn’t actually have, or whether there was some substance to it. So, that, to me, merits an inquiry. It does not merit an impeachment. An impeachment should be, holy cow. We should have some evidence of something truly shocking before we take the extraordinary step of beginning an impeachment inquiry, or else we just risk cheapening the whole impeachment process.”

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