Trump — not Biden — got cash from 12 countries: Dem fact-checks GOP at impeachment hearing

As House Republicans race to cobble together legislation to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Democrats are pointing to ex-President Donald Trump — who appears to have engaged in the same activity the GOP is accusing the current president of.

Republicans, who are pushing to hold an impeachment inquiry vote, claim that Biden took money from foreign countries via his son Hunter’s business dealings. They have, as some Republicans admit, found no direct proof of their allegations.

But as U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) told House Republicans during the Rules Committee markup of the legislation on Tuesday, Trump actually did take money from foreign countries during his time as President – a claim even Republicans have not made against Biden.

Referring to Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer, who testified in a closed-door session before the House Oversight Committee, Congresswoman Fernandez explained, “If you actually look at that transcript, Mr. Archer was very clear that while the father [Joe Biden] may have talked to his son, they never ever talked about business.”

READ MORE: GOP Votes Down Making Impeachment Inquiry ‘Transparent’ After Speaker Pledges ‘Transparency’

“They never ever talked about financial matters,” she continued. “And in contrast, when we were looking at issues about family business, I would like to enter into the record. Mr. Chairman, I seek consent to enter into the record, a [unrecognizable] that says Trump taxes show foreign income for more than a dozen countries.”

Rep. Fernandez appeared to be referring to a Politico article from December of 2022 that says: “Donald Trump’s tax returns show the former president received income from more than a dozen countries during his time in office, highlighting a string of potential conflicts of interest.”

“Trump’s returns,” Politico had added, “disclosed income from 2015 to 2020 from a wide range of foreign countries, including Canada, Panama, the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, among others.”

Fernandez explained, “I think this is our objection. I think that it is important you are making a big deal of the fact that Joe, that Joe Biden, as a private citizen, a lot of these things that you’re talking about happened when Joe Biden was a private citizen, but more importantly, that his brother and his son were separate.”

READ MORE: White Supremacist Who Dined With Trump Calls for ‘Death Penalty’ for Non-Christians: Report

“They did not have, their businesses were not commingled. It’s very clear from the evidence that they were separate. They were not the same. In contrast, we know from this article that says, Trump’s tax show foreign income, ‘Donald Trump’s tax returns show the former president received income from more than a dozen countries during his time in office,'” she said, emphasizing the fact that some of that income came while Trump was President.