Washington — House Republicans unveiled a resolution Thursday to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Bidena move aimed at giving GOP-led committees more firepower to examine his family’s business dealings as lawmakers search for evidence of wrongdoing.
Formalizing the impeachment inquiry, underway for months, could give more legal weight to the subpoenas as Republicans on the House Oversight, Ways and Means and Judiciary committees seek documents and testimonies. THE 14 page resolution establishes rules for public hearings and directs committees to produce a public report containing their findings.
“The impeachment inquiry strengthens our position when we go to court against this administration or anyone who refuses our subpoena,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said Thursday.
Biden’s impeachment campaign
Republicans have tried to show that Mr. Biden enriched himself through his family’s foreign business dealings and took bribes, but have so far produced no evidence that the president has committed any wrongdoing.
The House Rules Committee said it would consider the resolution on Tuesday, with an eye toward a possible vote on the House floor before lawmakers leave Washington on Dec. 14 for the recess.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said earlier this week that formalizing the investigation was a necessary step because of White House obstruction.
“They are refusing to turn over key witnesses to allow them to testify because they have been subpoenaed,” Johnson said. “They refuse to hand over thousands of documents to the National Archives.”
He added that it was “not a political decision”, but a “legal decision”.
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. It is a vote to continue the impeachment inquiry and it is a necessary constitutional step and I believe we will get every vote we have,” he said. Johnson said. “Whether anyone is for or against impeachment is irrelevant at this point.”
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Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announcement impeachment inquiry in a last-ditch effort to appease conservative critics in September, an effort that ultimately proved futile when he was ousted weeks later. But the full House never voted to authorize the investigation, as it had in previous impeachment inquiries. The lack of formal approval from the House has raised questions about the legitimacy of the effort, concerns that Republicans now hope to address by voting on the resolution.
Some Republican lawmakers who previously opposed an impeachment inquiry have since changed their minds.
Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, who initially warned against launching an investigation, said Thursday that the vote was necessary because Mr. Biden “refuses” to turn over documents.
“An indictment with the information we have would be a problem,” Bacon said, adding that the threshold for serious crimes and misdemeanors has not yet been met.
The White House said Republicans have already acquired thousands of pages of bank statements and documents as well as hours of testimony that show no wrongdoing by the president. On Thursday, White House spokesman Ian Sams called the resolution a “baseless stunt.” Last month, the White House denied House Republicans request to interview members of the president’s staff and family in separate but related investigation into handling of classified documents
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, named a number of people in Mr. Biden’s orbit that the committees want to question as part of the impeachment inquiry in the coming months, notably the President’s brother James Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The Supervisory Committee issued subpoenas for personal business records of James and Hunter Biden in September.
In 2019, the Democratic-led House approved a similar resolution authorizing the impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump as witnesses resisted demands for congressional testimony.
Ellis Kim and Jaala Brown contributed reporting.