House Republicans took to the airwaves on Sunday to lay out the next steps in their investigations of President Biden’s alleged family business dealings abroad that they say will likely lead to an impeachment vote.
But Republicans warned against moving hastily without concrete evidence of wrongdoing, emphasizing that they currently lack a smoking gun. For now, the articles of impeachment have been sent to committees, sidelining them in the House.
“If the facts show that there’s high crimes, misdemeanors, bribery, treason, whatever — if the facts show there is the crime there that warrants impeachment, then our duty compels us,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But we have to first get all the facts on the table.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican who represents a swing district in South Carolina, said in a separate interview on the same program that they must take a more methodical approach than what she said House Democrats took against former President Donald Trump.
“We have to be better than the left, better than Democrats when they impeached Trump twice,” Ms. Mace said. “We have to have an investigation. We have to have all the evidence, the dots connected, [it] has to go through committee, through Judiciary.”
Via a House Oversight Committee probe, Republicans say that Mr. Biden and his family were involved in a multimillion-dollar pay-to-play scheme with foreign nationals when he was vice president, based on anonymous whistleblower allegations and bank records of family members.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado infuriated Republican leaders last week and split the GOP conference when she filed privileged articles of impeachment that were required to receive a vote. House Republicans chose instead to punt them to committees to avert an up-or-down vote on final passage.
“Anytime you take something this serious, you’ve got to have facts behind it,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters last week. “Anytime you want to do something in impeachment, we’re like the grand jury. We have to make the case to make the indictment. You don’t just put something on the floor and say, ’OK, impeach somebody.’”
The California Republican continued: “This is one of the most serious things you can do as a member of Congress, and I think you’ve got to go through the process. You’ve got to have the investigation. [Putting] something on the floor actually harms the investigation we’re doing right now.”
The White House has denied any wrongdoing, and Democrats writ large have brushed off the allegations as lacking evidence and politically motivated.
Republicans say the whistleblower claims, which allege the Bidens were influenced with foreign money because of their powerful sway, warrant further investigation by Congress but that the administration has refused to cooperate.
“We’re in the process of — we’re going to get bank records and continue to go down that path,” Rep. Bryon Donalds, Florida Republican, said on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The last piece is just obstruction that has gone on with the White House and the Department of Justice … I think we actually have a two-tier track for impeachment with [Attorney General] Merrick Garland and with Joe Biden.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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