Senate Republicans have little appetite for impeachment proceedings against President Biden over his family’s foreign business dealings, presenting another major roadblock for House Republicans trying to persuade skeptics in their ranks.
House Republicans say opening an official impeachment inquiry would unlock more investigative powers to uncover the extent to which then-Vice President Biden was directly aware of or involved in his son’s lucrative overseas deals, which they claim were part of a bribery scheme.
Many Republican senators aren’t buying it.
“It’s like I said about President Trump: If you’re going to indict somebody, especially a president or former president, you damn better well have a good case,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. “I know I sat through one impeachment trial. I don’t want to sit through another one.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a leadership member, equated an impeachment inquiry of Mr. Biden to retaliation for House Democrats’ two impeachments of Mr. Trump.
“I don’t know what the basis of this call for impeachment is. It just sounds like a lot of noise to me,” Ms. Capito told The Washington Times. “It just seems like the day you get elected, you’re going to get impeached. I mean, is that what we’re down to now? That’s how it sounds to me.”
House Republicans are facing resistance from moderates in competitive districts, but a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus said he has not seen concrete evidence tying Mr. Biden to his son’s alleged White House influence peddling to foreign business partners.
“I do not think that evidence has been presented,” Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado said Wednesday on NBC. “I don’t think there’s a need to have an impeachment inquiry when we have three committees that are doing great work developing the kind of evidence that would lead to an impeachment inquiry.”
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, has said initiating an impeachment inquiry would be the “natural step forward” in House investigations.
He lacks the votes to proceed but faces threats in his ranks to oust him from his post.
“We’ve got to seize the initiative. That means forcing votes on impeachment. And if Speaker McCarthy stands in our way, he may not have the job long,” tweeted Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. “Let’s hope he works with us, not against us.”
Some Senate Republicans suggested that Mr. McCarthy is discussing an impeachment inquiry to appease the party’s right flank.
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“That may very well be Speaker McCarthy’s way of allowing folks to express their concern right now,” said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
Senate Republicans see potential political pitfalls so close to the 2024 elections. If the House passes articles of impeachment, a Senate trial would likely fall squarely in the middle of campaign season.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a potential successor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said he believes Mr. Biden “has abused his office” but has “legitimate questions about whether his behavior has met that constitutional standard.”
“If you’re not likely to be successful, then what are the opportunity costs, especially going into an election year where there’s other things that people are going to be looking at and talking about and wanting us to do?” Mr. Cornyn told The Times. “We’ve been through that twice [with Mr. Trump] since I’ve been here, and I hope not to have to do that again.”
Republicans should call the House inquiries whatever they want so long as they continue investigating and doing their due diligence, said Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. He said impeachment proceedings could very well be the appropriate course of action.
“Some people are probably concerned about us getting embroiled in an impeachment trial in an election year, but I don’t expect a police officer to go to lunch before he goes to a crime when he’s called,” Mr. Cramer told The Times. “If there’s reason to have an inquiry and reason to move forward, then I think they’re obligated to do that under the law and under their oath.”
The White House and congressional Democrats, meanwhile, are salivating over the intraparty fray among Republicans.
“If Speaker McCarthy opens an impeachment inquiry simply to throw red meat to his most extreme far-right members like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, it will prove that this is nothing more than an evidence-free political stunt to baselessly attack the president, not a legitimate inquiry to pursue the truth,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said, “The calls for impeachment are absurd.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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