Critical Week Ahead for House Impeachment Inquiry as Republicans Brace for Pivotal Vote
House Republicans are set to hold a pivotal vote this week, formalizing their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden With mounting right-wing pressure, this critical juncture comes amidst concerns of a lack of evidence and potential overlap with Hunter Biden charges
House Republicans are on the verge of formalizing their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with a House vote this week, as their investigation enters a crucial stage amidst growing pressure from the right-wing.
So far, House Republicans have lacked the necessary votes to validate their ongoing inquiry with a full chamber vote, and the probe has faced challenges in uncovering wrongdoing by the president, leading to a lack of unified support from the full GOP conference.
Kevin McCarthy, the former House Speaker, unilaterally initiated the inquiry in September. This despite his previous criticism of Democrats for doing the same in 2019 when they began the first impeachment probe of then-President Donald Trump without an initial vote. However, the dynamics for House Republicans shifted when the White House informed the GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that their subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry. The Trump administration had made a similar argument against House Democrats at the start of his 2019 impeachment.
The White House throwing down the gauntlet has seemingly encouraged hesitant moderate Republican members to support formalizing the inquiry. Republican proponents argue that a floor vote will enhance their legal position against the White House and reinforce their subpoenas for witnesses such as Hunter Biden, the president's son, who has indicated he will not attend his scheduled closed-door deposition this week. This comes from multiple GOP lawmakers and aides.
"I came to Washington with the intention of neither expelling a member of Congress nor impeaching a president," stated Rep. Marc Molinaro, a Republican from a swing district in New York, in an interview with CNN. "It would be in the best interest of the White House to respect subpoenas and cooperate with the investigation. If they choose not to and obstruct, then it is the responsibility of the legislative branch to assert our right and duty to provide oversight."
Additionally, the GOP inquiry may be strengthened by last week's tax indictment against Hunter Biden, which aligns with many of the alleged financial dealings and international business transactions that Republicans have been scrutinizing in their own investigations.
US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, arrives to appear in a federal court on gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 3.
Mike Seagar/Reuters/File
Hunter Bidens universe of legal problems, briefly explained
The White House memo recently announced that Republicans have accessed over 35,000 pages of private financial records, more than 2,000 pages of Treasury Department financial reports, numerous records from Bidens' vice presidential tenure from the National Archives, and at least 36 hours of witness interviews in response to allegations that they had stonewalled the inquiry. However, Republicans are still seeking access to emails where then-Vice President Joe Biden used an email pseudonym, as they have only received 14 of those pages to date. Additionally, the National Archives informed the House Oversight Committee this week that they would receive 62,000 pages in response to their request, which will include pseudonym emails, on top of the 20,000 pages already made available to them, according to a person familiar with the matter. House Oversight Chairman James Comer stated, "The impeachment inquiry strengthens our hand when we go to court against this administration or anyone who refuses our subpoena."
House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are actively seeking to garner more support for the upcoming vote and overcome their narrow majority.
"Let's be clear, this vote is not about impeaching President Biden," stated Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, last week. "It's about continuing the impeachment inquiry, which is a crucial constitutional process, and I am confident we will secure all the votes required."
The decision to hold the vote is meant to satisfy the demands of the far-right members in the conference, who have been pushing for the president's impeachment. Despite this, some of their colleagues, such as retiring GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who has been openly critical of the inquiry, intend to vote against it. According to Johnson, the timing of the vote is due to House Republicans reaching a critical point with the White House, and he believes it will not put moderate GOP members in a difficult position: "This is not a political decision. This is a legal decision."
The House Rules Committee plans to convene on Tuesday to discuss the resolution formalizing the inquiry, with the vote expected to take place later this week, as per two sources familiar with the resolution who spoke to CNN.
House Republicans are preparing to confront the president's son this week regarding his testimony. Committee chairmen have requested that Hunter Biden appear for a closed-door deposition on December 13, but his attorney, Abbe Lowell, has stated that his client is only willing to appear for a public hearing. If Biden does not comply, Comer has threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress, escalating the situation to a breaking point.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs federal court n Wilmington, Delaware on July 26, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Lacking evidence
Since McCarthy's inquiry began in September, the three committees leading the investigation have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service. They have also collected a large amount of documents and new bank records, including those from Biden family members. Despite issuing new subpoenas and scheduling more depositions, Republicans have not found credible evidence to support their accusations against Biden. Only one hearing has taken place related to the inquiry, where expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged that there was not enough evidence to prove the accusations they were making.
Throughout the process, House Democrats and the White House have consistently denied and at times disproved the allegations made by Republicans, who have attempted to link Joe Biden to his son's lucrative international business dealings. In the days leading up to this week's vote, each of the three committees overseeing the investigation has worked to gain support and traction.
The House Oversight panel has shifted its focus to Hunter Bidens foreign business deals and their potential connection to his father. Starting with interviews of five individuals and nine bank subpoenas, the investigation has escalated to the issuance of nine subpoenas for testimonies in the past month. The Republican-led committee recently unveiled a document detailing payments from Hunter Bidens business entity, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden while he was not in office, but it failed to mention that the presidents son was repaying his father for a car.
Additionally, the committee disclosed two personal checks from the presidents brother, James Biden, to Joe Biden during his time out of office, but the information available suggests that these were actually loan repayments.
While these payments fall short of the Republican claims that the president personally benefitted from his family's international business dealings, they have still given ammunition to the president's political opponents and the far-right base of the GOP.
Testimony from Hunter Biden's business associate, Devon Archer, indicated that the president had some superficial interactions with his son's business partners, bringing him closer to his sons' business activities than he had previously acknowledged and casting doubt on his earlier denials. However, there is no evidence that business was discussed during these interactions.
The clear demonstration is a son leveraging his father's well-known name and political influence to advance his business. In his testimony to Congress, Archer acknowledged that it is fair to assert that Hunter Biden was peddling a "facade" of access to his father.
U.S. President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden disembark from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, U.S., February 4, 2023.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Overlap with Hunter Biden charges
The House Ways and Means Committee has received and reviewed the documents and testimony provided by two IRS whistleblowers involved in the Hunter Biden criminal probe. They have alleged that the handling of the case has been politicized and mishandled.
Special Counsel David Weiss and the Justice Department leadership have rejected claims of politicization regarding the ongoing criminal probe. Last Thursday, Weiss indicted Hunter Biden for alleged tax-related offenses and filed separate gun-related felony charges in September. (Hunter Biden maintains his innocence.)
Two IRS whistleblowers, who initially brought their allegations to Congress over the summer, testified again to the panel in a closed session last week. They raised concerns about Joe Biden's use of email aliases to communicate with a business partner of one of his sons during his vice presidency. However, the specific contents of the emails were not disclosed.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler claim that prosecutors in the Hunter Biden probe ignored the potential involvement of Joe Biden in business deals. They alleged that efforts to interview the president and seek information about his potential business connections using subpoenas were blocked by prosecutors. At the same time, Weiss, a spokesperson, stated that the probe was conducted based on the facts. The recent tax indictment against Hunter Biden, which came to light last week, could strengthen the argument made by House Republicans, who have been contending for months that he exploited his father's name to profit from business deals in China, Ukraine, Romania, and other countries.
Furthermore, the charges provide validation for Shapley and Ziegler, who have accused federal prosecutors of politicizing the case. They had previously informed House lawmakers that there was substantial evidence of Hunter Biden committing tax evasion, and were frustrated that their recommendation for felony charges was disregarded. Hunter Biden is now facing charges for many of the same crimes that these IRS whistleblowers had insisted he should have been held accountable for all along.
Comer promptly acknowledged Shapley and Ziegler, attributing the tax indictment to their revelations and commended their courageous choice to reveal the truth.
However, the 56-page indictment fails to provide evidence to support the sensational allegations made by Comer and other Republicans during their impeachment inquiry: Specifically, that Joe Biden engaged in corrupt business dealings with his son and abused his government authority to benefit his family.
Joe Biden is not implicated in the indictment, and prosecutors have not accused Hunter Biden of channeling any of his foreign funds to his father, despite claims made by House Republicans.
This is where the House Judiciary Committee's investigation comes into play - to delve further into the accusations raised by IRS whistleblowers. The committee has interviewed seven current and former Justice Department officials, including Weiss, to address the extensive allegations.
Despite objections from various Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service officials in recent months, Republicans are using IRS whistleblower testimony to further their claims that the Biden administration has hindered the criminal investigation of the president's son. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has gone so far as to suggest potential charges of bribery, abuse of power, and obstruction against the president, despite these claims being largely based on debunked allegations about Biden's dealings in Ukraine. This information has been uncovered in a CNN report.
