The charges against the president’s son may add momentum to the investigation just as House Republicans are holding a vote to formally authorize it, but they do nothing to implicate President Biden.
Mr. Biden, 53, has acknowledged a decades-long addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine. His foreign business dealings have led to questions about President Biden’s influence.
President Biden’s son has declined to testify in private but volunteered to do so in a public hearing with House panels leading the impeachment inquiry against his father. The G.O.P. chairmen have refused.
The speaker said he would move forward with a vote that Republicans have long avoided for fear that some in their ranks would refuse to endorse an investigation without incriminating evidence.