House Votes to Formally Launch Biden Impeachment Probe

The vote, unanimous among Republicans, showed a united front in the House, Comer said.

“We expect to have people honor our subpoenas. We want to wrap this investigation up,” Comer said referencing Biden’s son, Hunter, failing to appear for his Wednesday deposition.

Comer said the vote sends a “loud and clear” message to the White House.

We expect you to comply with our information requests and our subpoenas.

Jordan, also praised Republicans in Congress for their unwavering support of the inquiry, saying the vote will help the committee get key witnesses they want.

“There were three names mentioned in the resolutions, 918, 917 resolutions. Three names. One, of course, was the President of the United States Joe Biden. The other two names are two lawyers we want to talk to.”

Jordan claims the Department of Justice is refusing them to speak with Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two employees of the DOJ’s Tax Division. He also named off a list of witnesses the committee still expects to speak with. As for getting the witnesses, Jordan said the committee will be working as fast as they can to put together a resolution.

Comer said there are roughly 5,000 emails they need to go through, with 1,200 pages already provided by The National Archives. He also made claims that the White House has been obstructing the investigation, telling witnesses not to appear before the committee.

Biden released a statement addressing the impeachment effort and questioning the priorities of House Republicans following the vote. The president called the inquiry a “baseless political stunt,” shifting the focus to national security priorities he feels time is being wasted on.

“The American people need their leaders in Congress to take action on important priorities for the nation and world.

On Tuesday, I met with the President of Ukraine, who is leading his people in a battle for freedom against Russian aggression. He came to America to ask us for help. Yet Republicans in Congress won’t act to help.

The people of Israel are in a battle against terrorists, and they are waiting for our help. Yet Republicans in Congress won’t act to help.

We have to address the situation at our southern border, and I am determined to try to fix the problem. We need funding to strengthen border security, but Republicans in Congress won’t act to help.

We need to continue our progress on the economy and make sure inflation keeps going down and job growth keeps going up. That means avoiding self-inflicted economic crises like a government shutdown, which Republicans in Congress are driving us toward in just a few weeks because they won’t act now to fund the government and critical priorities to make life better for the American people.

There is a lot of work to be done. But after wasting weeks trying to find a new Speaker of the House and having to expel their own members, Republicans in Congress are leaving for a month without doing anything to address these pressing challenges.

I wake up every day focused on the issues facing the American people – real issues that impact their lives, and the strength and security of our country and the world. Unfortunately, House Republicans are not joining me. Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts.

The American people deserve better. I know what I am going to remain focused on. I would invite Republicans in Congress to join me.”

The decision comes three months after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally authorized an inquiry amid opposition from moderates and other Republicans.

But the political calculations have shifted for the formerly skeptical GOP lawmakers after months of effort from leaders of the investigation into the president to shore up support. Republicans have been investigating the president and his family’s business dealings for months, meaning the vote is essentially a formality.

The vote represents a shift in the politics surrounding the impeachment inquiry, which moderates or lawmakers in swing districts have been hesitant to endorse without evidence Biden committed any wrongdoing.

Wednesday’s approval guarantees the impeachment investigation and potential vote to convict will stretch into 2024 when the president is in the midst of a reelection campaign. The presidential election is shaping up to be a rematch between Biden and the twice-impeached former President Donald Trump, who has pushed House Republicans to vote Biden out of office.

The White House and congressional Democrats have criticized the investigations as baseless and publicity stunts meant to help Trump, who is facing his own set of troubles including multiple federal indictments.

“It’s based on superficial and baseless accusations,” Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said before the vote. “There’s been no evidence proving that in fact the purpose of President Biden has done anything to deserve impeachment at this point and time period. It’s a lot to do with politics here in Washington that I think the majority of Americans wish that we were not engaged in.”

Republicans leading the investigations into the president and his family have argued that formally approving an inquiry with a full House vote will give them more legal standing to enforce subpoenas and obtain records the White House has refused to cooperate with.

“The House will likely need to go to court to enforce its subpoenas, and opening a formal inquiry — backed by a vote of the full body — puts us in the strongest legal position to gather the evidence and provide transparency to the American people,” Johnson wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday morning.

Other Republicans have said that authorizing an inquiry doesn’t necessarily mean it will lead to a vote to convict, a line of reasoning some of the initially skeptical lawmakers have used to support the impeachment inquiry vote.

“As we have said numerous times before, voting in favor of an impeachment inquiry does not equal impeachment,” Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told reporters. “We will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, and if they uncover evidence of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors, then and only then will the next steps towards impeachment proceedings be considered.”

A top White House attorney argued in a letter last month that the Republican-led investigation was illegitimate because an inquiry had not been authorized by the House, and that Johnson said during the run-up to Trump’s 2019 impeachment that any inquiry without approval would be a “sham.” McCarthy made similar statements during the Trump impeachments only to reverse course earlier this year before he was ousted as speaker.

The White House has also defended its cooperation with the probe, citing tens of thousands of pages of documents including bank records and communications and testimony from witnesses.

The resolution does not accuse Biden of any wrongdoing but authorizes three House committees to continue their investigations and to petition a court for grand jury materials. It also authorizes subpoenas and retroactively approves multiple others that have already been issued, along with allowing the hiring of outside legal help.

Before Wednesday’s vote, Democrats blasted the vote and said Republicans leading the investigation can’t specify what high crime and misdemeanor they are accusing the president of.

“The reason that mysteries are called ‘whodunits’ is because they start with the crime and then you have to try to figure out who did it,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. “But the Biden impeachment investigation is not a whodunit, it’s a what is it? After 11 months, nobody can tell you what Joe Biden’s alleged crime is, where it happened when it happened, what the motive was or who the victims are.”

Lawmakers are focused on four areas in their investigation: millions of dollars paid to the president’s son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden from foreign business deals, false or misleading statements the president made about his son’s business ventures, times where the president met or spoke with Hunter Biden’s business partners, and a $240,000 loan reimbursements he received from family members, according to Johnson.

Republicans have yet to reveal any concrete evidence that shows the president acted unlawfully or committed impeachable offenses, but they argue that the series of documents and witness testimony they have been able to collect paints a picture of “influence peddling.” Several lawmakers, including members of the party’s leadership team, have accused the president of being corrupt and frequently refer to the “Biden crime family” in appearances and speeches.

Wednesday’s vote comes the same day as Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to appear for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating his overseas business. The younger Biden and House lawmakers have been in a public back-and-forth about whether he should appear before lawmakers in a closed-door setting or in a public hearing.

Hunter Biden and Democratic members of Congress have said Republicans want the deposition to be private so they can cherry-pick facts and testimony to further their case against the president, which they have said is a “fishing expedition.”

In a surprise appearance outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Hunter Biden said he would refuse to appear behind closed doors and blasted the effort to remove his father from office.

“For six years, I have been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting ‘Where’s Hunter?’ Well, here is my answer, I am here,” he said.

He also denied that his father was involved in his business dealings, rejecting a key charge that is central to the impeachment inquiry.

“Let me state as clearly as I can, my father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with the Chinese private businessman, not in my investments home nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter Biden said.

GOP lawmakers have threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to appear for the private deposition. Rep. Jim Jordan, leader of the House Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday that the House would move forward with contempt proceedings.

“Chairman Jordan and I have been very clear when we issued a lawful subpoena to the president’s son, that we expect him to come in and be deposed. This is a normal process and investigation,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said after Hunter Biden defied the subpoena.