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House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to hold a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden next week has the backing of most Republicans — but a slim GOP majority and tepid support from the party’s moderates could kill the probe.
“We’re going to have to have a talk about what they can’t get now that [an impeachment inquiry vote] will allow them to get,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania Republican.
Mr. Fitzpatrick is among a group of moderate Republicans who want to know how a formal impeachment inquiry will bring additional evidence proving then-Vice President Biden used his office to help his family secure lucrative business deals.
Three House panels, led by the Oversight and Accountability Committee, have held depositions and gathered evidence since then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry earlier this year. A formal vote for an impeachment probe would give the panels additional powers to enforce subpoenas seeking witness testimony and other evidence.
Mr. Johnson said Tuesday the House had no choice but to follow “its constitutional responsibility.” He added that a vote is necessary because the White House is “stonewalling” the probe by withholding thousands of documents and preventing subpoenaed witnesses from testifying.
The Oversight panel has been battling for the testimony of Hunter Biden, who they subpoenaed last month for a Dec. 13 appearance.
Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has attacked the inquiry as a political exercise and only offered the president’s son to appear at a public hearing, which lawmakers have rejected.
“All the moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision. This is a legal decision, it’s a constitutional decision,” Mr. Johnson said. “And whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now. We have to continue our legal responsibility and that is … solely what this vote is about.”
An impeachment inquiry vote will be a tough test of party loyalty for moderate Republicans and a handful of conservative lawmakers from swing districts heading into an election year.
Democrats will vote against an impeachment inquiry, which means it must win the support of nearly all Republicans, whose razor-thin majority was pared down by a vote after expelling George Santos, of New York, last week.
Among the GOP impeachment skeptics is Rep. Ken Buck, of Colorado, who is not running for reelection.
The lawmaker wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that House investigators were relying on “imagined history” in their effort to prove Mr. Biden engaged in influence peddling.
He’s leaning “no” on voting for an inquiry.
Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican, told The Washington Times that his committee has been transparent throughout the process. Republicans have uncovered evidence of direct payments to Mr. Biden from his brother and son Hunter though the payments were explained as reimbursements for loans.
The GOP has used its subpoena power to pore over bank records that show Biden family members and their associates raked in millions of dollars from China, Russia, Ukraine and other foreign countries during Mr. Biden’s tenure as vice president. Witnesses say the deals were secured by selling the “Biden brand.”
“At the end of the day, the objective of the House Oversight Committee was to determine whether or not the president was compromised, whether or not the American people were being told the truth about his lack of knowledge and involvement in his family’s business schemes, which we know he wasn’t,” Mr. Comer said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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