Democrats are denouncing House Republicans over their plan to hold a vote on opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, decrying the effort as an abuse of power that distracts from advancing legislation to fund the government and support foreign allies.
House Oversight ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the committee, criticized his GOP counterparts for pushing a vote to formalize the inquiry, arguing Republicans have not been able to uncover any evidence that implicates the president in any crime. The criticism comes after House Republicans unveiled a resolution on Thursday morning to open an impeachment inquiry with a vote expected on the motion next week.
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“Voting to launch an impeachment inquiry will not change the fact that, following many months of endless investigation by House Republicans this Congress and by Senate Republicans in 2020, the evidence plainly shows no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, much less an impeachable offense,” Raskin said in a statement, in which he decried the inquiry as a “sham.”
He continued, “Chairman [James] Comer cannot even identify what crime he thinks President Biden has committed.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced he would approve a vote to open the congressional inquiry into Biden earlier this month, prompting pushback from Democrats who accused the Republican leader of flip-flopping on the topic to appease hard-line conservatives.
The impeachment inquiry is looking into whether Biden improperly used his position of power to enrich himself and his family, whether he used his influence to pressure the Department of Justice to help his son Hunter Biden, and how involved he was in his family’s foreign business dealings.
It also focuses on an allegation raised in an FBI tip sheet that says Joe Biden, along with Hunter Biden, took bribes from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company for which Hunter Biden was a board member, to pressure the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor.
The White House has repeatedly pushed back against the impeachment efforts, accusing the speaker of bending his knee to members on his far right, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“Instead of doing anything to actually help people before leaving Washington for a month, these extreme House Republicans are hoping to distract from their own failed ability to govern by trying to score cheap political points in an effort to mollify Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is in open war with her own party’s speaker,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said. “The American people are yet again going to see a clear contrast in priorities: President Biden, who is focused on solving the challenges facing America and the world, and extreme House Republicans who only focus on stupid stunts to get attention for themselves.”
It’s not yet clear when the House will vote on approving the impeachment inquiry, but it’s expected to come to the floor sometime next week before lawmakers adjourn for holiday recess. The vote could prove to be a major leadership test for Johnson because he can only afford to lose three GOP votes if all members are present, and some centrist Republicans have previously voiced their apprehension to pressing ahead with such proceedings.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden earlier this year but did so without holding a full vote in the House. That decision came as McCarthy was facing extreme pressure from some GOP members to begin proceedings or potentially lose his top leadership position, which he later did anyway.
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However, Johnson is now looking to hold a vote to formalize those proceedings as a way to counter arguments from White House lawyers that the investigation lacks “constitutional legitimacy.”
“Now, we’re being stalled by the White House because they’re preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward,” Johnson said last week. “A formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step, and I think it’s something we have to do at this juncture.”
