House Republicans unveiled on Thursday their resolution to formalize the corruption-focused impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
Three panels — the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committees — have led the impeachment probe since mid-September, when then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced the endeavor. Biden and his allies insist he committed no wrongdoing and claim the impeachment inquiry is tainted by politics.
The 14-page resolution directs the committees to “continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America, and for other purposes.”
Among the authorities outlined in the text are sections governing the release of deposition transcripts, hearings, reports from participating committees, and rules for the top Democrat on each panel to get subpoenas, witnesses, or information deemed “necessary” for the investigation.
In addition to introducing the impeachment resolution on Thursday, Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) released a resolution for authorizing the enforcement of subpoenas issued by Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO).
A House Rules Committee markup session is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, after which a vote to pass the impeachment resolution could take place later in the week. If passed, the inquiry would follow a similar track as the first impeachment probe against former President Donald Trump, which Democrats did not vote to authorize right away either.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the House is now moving forward with a vote to combat alleged “stonewalling” by the White House, which he claimed has impeded efforts by investigators to get all the witnesses and documents they seek. The White House has rejected accusations of obstruction as “false” and shared a list of some of the documents and personnel made available to Congress.
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The GOP-led House has been investigating 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. Congressional investigators have also been looking into how the Department of Justice handled the criminal probe into the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and there is now a high-profile fight over getting him to comply with a subpoena to appear for a deposition this month.
Republicans have a slim majority that was made narrower by the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) last week and they cannot afford to lose more than a couple of GOP votes. While all Democrats are likely to oppose the resolution, at least one Republican, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), has said he is leaning toward voting against it.
Even if the inquiry gets formalized, any future articles of impeachment face a high bar for the Democrat-controlled Senate to vote in favor of convicting President Biden. On Wednesday, Biden insisted that Americans are being suckered by “a bunch of lies” when pressed by a reporter about alleged contacts the president had with his son’s and brother’s foreign business associates.
Still, many House Republicans see value in formalizing the inquiry at this juncture. “A vote on an impeachment inquiry puts the House in the best position to prevail in court and uncover the truth,” Armstrong said in a statement.