Speaker Mike Johnson promotes impeachment inquiry against Biden
Speaker Mike Johnson insisted the House is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry, not yet an impeachment vote, against President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON – House Republicans have released the text of their resolution to formally authorize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in a bid to strengthen the probe’s legal standing in court.
The resolution will be marked up – a process where members debate and offer amendments to legislation – by the House Rules Committee on Tuesday and will be teed up for a vote sometime next week before members head home for the holidays.
The committees leading the probe, the resolution says, are “directed to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach,” the president.
House Republicans have been investigating Biden and allegations that the president financially benefited from his family’s business dealings. The inquiry so far has yet to turn up evidence directly tying the president to those affairs.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., opened the impeachment inquiry in September without a floor vote even after previously vowing to open the probe only with the formal approval of the lower chamber.
The White House has derided the impeachment inquiry for its lack of an approval of the House and have cited a Trump-era Justice Department opinion that declares any impeachment inquiry that has not been voted on is moot.
GOP lawmakers have been careful to say the inquiry’s authorization is not necessarily a vote to impeach Biden but rather a way to bolster the investigation’s legitimacy if any requests or subpoenas from investigators end up in court.