Despite the best efforts of the media, the underlying facts in the current impeachment effort must not go unnoticed. While Joe Biden was the sitting vice president, his son, Hunter Biden, received a very lucrative job as a board member of a corrupt Ukrainian natural gas company, despite not having any expertise in this area.

During the time of Hunter’s employment, the activities of the company were investigated for corruption by the Ukrainian government. Joe Biden used his political power to threaten to withhold billions of dollars from the Ukrainian government if they did not fire the prosecutor who was, as it happened, investigating the allegedly corrupt company that had hired Hunter.

These are the hard and true facts, and they speak to the only quid pro quo we are certain of in this entire spectacle. There are even video tapes of Joe Biden bragging about the deal he made with the Ukrainians to get this prosecutor fired.

Are these facts beyond investigation because Biden is a Democratic candidate for president? Should the Trump administration ignore his blatant quid pro quo because Hunter Biden has some kind of special privilege that no other American citizen possesses — the “my dad is the vice president” privilege?

Currently, Democrats in Congress are attempting to impeach Trump because he suggested that the Biden father-son duo’s corrupt deal with Ukraine be investigated. They are using the “my dad is veep” privilege as a partisan weapon. They are asserting, or at least implying, that people in the political class can’t be investigated for wrongdoing.

However, any investigation into a political candidate can be viewed as “politically motivated” when the investigation comes from the other side of the political aisle. That fact cannot and should not be the determining factor in whether an investigation takes place. The real question should be, “Is the inquiry about this candidate a legitimate one?”

Criminal law is clear about this question. Subjective motivations are irrelevant. The court only considers whether there was a legitimate objective reason to believe criminal conduct occurred.

Was there a legitimate and objective reason to believe Hunter Biden was engaged in corruption and his father — in his official capacity as the vice president — threatened foreign officials in order to stop the investigation into his son? If you are objective, the answer to that question is very clear.

Politics, by its nature, is subjective. The motivations of the president and of any other elected official are subjective. But criminal matters have to be resolved objectively. Joe Biden and his son should not get a free pass, and Trump should not be impeached for subjective and political reasons.

Jeff Landry is attorney general of Louisiana and chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.