House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said on Sunday that he believes Republicans will have enough votes to formalize the corruption-focused impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
During an interview on Fox News, Comer said “one thing” had “changed” in the face of media reports that the GOP-led House did not have enough votes to approve a formal probe due to concerns of a small group of moderates.
“A great thing happened during Thanksgiving,” Comer said on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The members went home, many of them for the first time and circulated for the first time in over ten weeks, and they met people in Walmart and people on Main Street.”
Joe Biden lied about not talking to his son about his business dealings.
Joe Biden lied when he claimed his family never received money from China.
Joe Biden continues to lie about his central role in the influence peddling schemes.
But bank records don't lie. @MariaBartiromo pic.twitter.com/ME1FDd6sqP
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) December 3, 2023
Comer said members heard from their constituents a desire for the impeachment inquiry to press forward amid growing evidence in their probe into whether the business practices of Biden’s family members fostered corruption in government — spurred by a money trail showing millions of dollars from foreign countries — and how the Department of Justice has conducted the criminal probe into the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
“So we are unified at a time when I think it’s no secret our conference is broken in a lot of ways. The members have heard from their constituents back home,” he said. “They have confidence in the credibility of our investigation and the mountains of evidence that we have accumulated. So I’m confident we’re going to have the votes to move forward with this impeachment inquiry.”
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The House is expected to conduct a vote to formalize the inquiry — which then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) neglected to have when he announced the probe in September — before Congress goes on another holiday break in the middle of December.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who took on the leadership role a little more than one month ago, told Fox News in an interview on Saturday that formalizing the inquiry is a “necessary step” because of “stonewalling” by the White House when it comes to witnesses and documentation.
The White House has rejected accusations of obstruction as “false” and shared a list of some of the documents and personnel made available to congressional investigators, but GOP investigators claim there has been resistance in key areas of inquiry. In general, President Biden and his allies insist he committed no wrongdoing and claim the investigative efforts by House Republicans are tainted by politics.
Comer acknowledged the thin margin House Republicans have to approve a formal impeachment inquiry as Democrats are likely to vote in a bloc against the endeavor, and the GOP lost a member in Rep. George Santos (R-NY) thanks to an expulsion vote.
“Yes, it’s tough. I think we can lose one or two members,” Comer said. Though he acknowledged one particular Republican detractor — Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who has been critical of the impeachment effort — Comer predicted that “at the end of the day, I think our members realize that this is of the utmost importance.”