House Proceedings: Voting on Formalizing Impeachment Inquiry Against President Joe Biden
House Republicans set to vote on formalizing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as pressure mounts and investigation reaches a crucial stage
House Republicans are set to cast their votes on Wednesday to officially establish an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as their investigation reaches a pivotal moment and right-wing influence intensifies.
This vote coincides with a potential standoff between House Republicans and Hunter Biden, who is anticipated to be subpoenaed for a closed-door deposition in Washington, DC on Wednesday. Whether Hunter Biden will comply and participate in the questioning as part of the heightened impeachment inquiry remains uncertain at this time.
House Republicans have been unable to gather sufficient votes for a full chamber vote to legitimize their ongoing inquiry. The probe has faced challenges in uncovering any wrongdoing by the president, resulting in a lack of unified support from the full GOP conference. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy initiated the inquiry in September, despite previous criticism of Democrats for doing the same in 2019 without initially taking a vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are now assured they have sufficient backing to pass the vote on Wednesday. This is partly due to the fact that the White House informed the trio of GOP-led congressional committees overseeing the investigation that their subpoenas were invalid without a formal House vote authorizing the inquiry. As a result, hesitant, moderate Republican lawmakers are beginning to support their party's investigative endeavors. The Trump administration used a similar argument against House Democrats during his 2019 impeachment.
Multiple GOP lawmakers and aides argue that a floor vote will bolster their legal position against the White House and reinforce their subpoenas to obtain crucial witness testimonies. "The inquiry will help us be more informed," said GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents a swing district in New York, in an interview with CNN.
The GOP inquiry may be strengthened by last week's tax indictment against Hunter Biden, which coincides with the alleged financial imports and overseas business deals that Republicans have been closely scrutinizing.
To counter allegations of stonewalling the inquiry, a recent White House memo highlighted that Republicans have obtained over 35,000 pages of private financial records, more than 2,000 pages of Treasury Department financial reports, conducted at least 36 hours of witness interviews, and just this week started receiving an additional 62,000 pages from the National Archives, including a substantial amount of Joe Biden's communications as vice president.
Despite the majority of House Republicans supporting the inquiry vote, GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, a vocal critic of his party's investigation into the president, has expressed his skepticism by stating, "I'm leaning no." Furthermore, GOP leadership has emphasized that formalizing the inquiry does not guarantee the impeachment of the president, as pressure from within the party and the Republican base continues to mount.
"We will not preemptively judge the outcome of this situation because we are unable to," Johnson informed reporters on Tuesday. "This is not a political decision. We are abiding by the law and upholding the principles of the rule of law, and I am committed to that."
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, expressed a similar sentiment to Johnson's when he told reporters, "Supporting an impeachment inquiry does not automatically mean supporting impeachment."
GOP Representative Matt Gaetz from Florida is urging his party to impeach the president, but he acknowledged that House Republicans simply do not have the votes to do so, especially with their shrinking majority. "I think its a realistic approach," Gaetz said. "I dont think we have the votes to impeach anyone."
Moderate GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who backs an impeachment inquiry, stated that it is "more likely than not" that Republicans will not pursue articles of impeachment against the president due to the lack of evidence reaching the standard for impeachment. Despite cautious leadership from the Republicans, there are others in the party prepared to fully support impeachment.
GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas told CNN that he believes the inquiry will lead to impeachment. Throughout the process, House Democrats and the White House have consistently denied and discredited the accusations made by Republicans, particularly those trying to link Joe Biden to his son's lucrative international business dealings.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee from Maryland, criticized Republican attempts to initiate an impeachment inquiry. He stated that House Republicans are aiming to cast a "dark cloud" over the president that will linger into next year's election. "That is the primary goal of the impeachment inquiry," Raskin asserted on Monday. "There is no evidence connecting Joe Biden to a crime, yet they are adamant about holding a Senate trial for Biden's impeachment in the fall during the presidential campaign," Raskin added.
Since McCarthy initiated the inquiry in September, the three committees spearheading the investigation have conducted interviews with numerous officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, as well as acquiring a substantial amount of documents and new bank records, including those belonging to Biden family members.
Despite Republicans issuing new subpoenas and scheduling additional depositions, such as those with the president's brother and son, they have still not found any credible evidence to support their strongest allegations against Biden. Only one hearing has taken place related to the inquiry since its inception, during which expert witnesses called in by Republicans admitted that GOP investigators had not yet presented enough evidence to substantiate the accusations they were making.
In the lead-up to Wednesdays vote, each of the three committees, leading a different portion of the inquiry had sought to build momentum.
