House Republicans have a formally authorized impeachment inquiry into President Biden, but GOP lawmakers say that doesn’t mean full impeachment proceedings of the president are a foregone conclusion.
Republicans instead contended that having a formal vote on the inquiry was a necessary step to force cooperation from the White House. Speaker Mike Johnson pitched the formal inquiry as a way to continue a fact-finding mission into allegations that Mr. Biden and his family have used the president’s name to enrich themselves through shady foreign business dealings.
But Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said that after what he called the “snap impeachments” carried out by House Democrats against former President Donald Trump, Republicans must build their case and follow the facts.
“We can’t prejudge the outcome, the Constitution does not permit us to do so,” Mr. Johnson said. “We have to follow the truth and where it takes us.”
Republicans have tried to set their impeachment inquiry apart from the one carried out by Democrats in 2019 against Mr. Trump. They say they want to ensure they have factual evidence against Mr. Biden and allow for due process to run its course.
“If we have found that [President Biden] has committed no crimes, which I find incredibly hard to believe from what I even have seen,” said Rep. Max Miller, Ohio Republican, “if that is the case, then no, we should be responsible and not move forward to impeach him if we don’t have the evidence to nail him to the wall.”
Three GOP-led House committees, led by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, have conducted the investigation into Mr. Biden and his family’s business dealings since then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, unilaterally launched the inquiry in September.
Republican investigators have uncovered bank records showing the Biden family and associates raked in $24 million from foreign business deals and hid the transactions in a myriad of shell companies, but so far have not been able to fully connect the dots back to Mr. Biden.
Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican, told The Washington Times that authorizing the inquiry does not make Articles of Impeachment a forgone conclusion, but it does allow investigators to continue methodically procuring and working through evidence.
“If we would have done it like the Democrats did… he would have been impeached a year-and-a-half ago,” Mr. Biggs said.
In the Democratic-majority Senate, where two-thirds of the lawmakers would need to vote to convict Mr. Biden and remove him from office, some Republicans say they’ve yet to see compelling evidence of wrongdoing.
“If there were a smoking gun, I think we’d be talking about it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
House Democrats have latched onto the lack of evidence implicating Mr. Biden, and contend that Republicans are following orders from Mr. Trump. They say their pair of impeachment inquiries into Mr. Trump were justified, but the GOP’s probe of Mr. Biden is unwarranted.
Rep. James McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat, said the Republicans driving the inquiry will not be satisfied until the House votes on Articles of Impeachment against Mr. Biden.
“They are here for one reason, and one reason only, and that’s because Donald Trump wants this and he’s ordering the Republicans to do this,” Mr. McGovern told The Times. “When he says jump, they respond by saying how high, and that’s what this is.”
• Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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