U.S. House Republicans opened the first impeachment inquiry hearing on Thursday against Democratic President Joe Biden.

Republicans have accused Biden of trading on the power of his office when he was vice president to help his son Hunter Biden secure lucrative foreign business deals, and of benefiting personally from the "corruption." 

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, on September 12 requested for opening an impeachment inquiry into the president.

At Thursday's hearing led by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee, James Comer, the committee chair, said Biden has lied about family members' business dealings.

"The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption," Comer said.

Democrats said there was no evidence that Biden had received any of those payments, or had been involved in his son's business ventures.

Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin slammed his Republican colleagues for presenting 12,000 pages of bank records which didn't include a "single dime" going to the president.

One of the panel's expert witnesses, law professor Jonathan Turley, also acknowledged that the evidence Republicans had gathered so far doesn't prove their case.

The White House has repeatedly rejected the House GOP's assertion that Biden abused the power of his office to enrich his family. On the eve of Thursday's hearing, the White House released a 15-page memo refuting GOP allegations.

Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement on Tuesday that Republicans were simply trying to distract from the looming government shutdown that could begin this weekend if Congress failed to pass a spending bill.

Biden is campaigning for reelection in what will be a likely rematch with Republican Donald Trump, who is preparing for four upcoming criminal trials on a range of charges, from trying to overthrow his 2020 election defeat to mishandling classified documents are leaving office.

Trump, who was impeached twice during his four years in office, and some of his hardline Republican allies have for months called for a Biden impeachment.

(With input from agencies)