Senate Republicans expressed support Wednesday for the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden after Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. James Comer, debriefed their upper chamber colleagues at the weekly GOP lunch meeting.
Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told The Washington Times that his Senate colleagues offered encouraging comments and suggestions to Mr. Jordan of Ohio, the House Judiciary chair, and Mr. Comer of Kentucky, the Oversight chair.
“Not one member pushed back at all. They were all saying you’re doing great work and doing the Lord’s work. Keep it up,” he said. “One of the challenges is going to be that you have too much information.”
He added, “For example, how do you explain the grandchild of Joe Biden getting a large deposit into a bank account from Kazakhstan? Right Should that have to be explained?”
Mr. Kramer noted that Mr. Jordan and Mr. Comer do not have a set timeline for the House impeachment inquiry.
“They didn’t set one for good reason. That’s because they don’t know. They didn’t want to set any expectations. That question was asked,” he said. “That was my interpretation. And I think it was appropriate. We don’t know we’d like a fast trial.”
Mr. Cramer noted that the inquiry allowed for additional subpoena power that can’t be resisted as much in court if the administration tried to block information.
“So their hope was to make it go quickly. On the other hand, they were cautioned by some [senators] to not go so quickly so as be discredited by the public,” he said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry Tuesday and said it was necessary to provide Congress with enhanced powers to obtain hard-to-get records from Mr. Biden.
The Oversight panel will conduct the probe in coordination with the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees. The two panels have interviewed IRS and FBI whistleblowers who say they were blocked from pursuing evidence that may have shown Mr. Biden‘s involvement in his son’s business pacts.
The House will launch its impeachment inquiry into President Biden this month with a hearing that lays out evidence of Biden family actions that Republicans say prove illegal influence peddling and corruption.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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