Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed an impeachment inquiry vote must be the next step after the Biden administration “stonewalled” investigations into the first family.
Johnson appeared on Fox and Friends Saturday alongside House GOP conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to address an impending vote to impeach President Joe Biden. The two were fresh from a House Republicans meeting on Friday, where they discussed the update on the impeachment inquiry and decided whether to vote to authorize the proceedings.
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“It’s become a necessary step,” Johnson said of the impeachment inquiry. “Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes. We decried that use of it. This is very different. Remember, we are the rule of law team. We have to do it very methodically.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) floated an impeachment inquiry in September when he was still the speaker. Since then, the House Oversight Committee has acquired some 35,000 pages of private financial records, 2,000 pages of Treasury Department financial reports, 36 hours of witness interviews and testimony, and vice presidential material from the National Archives.
“Our three committees of jurisdiction — judiciary, oversight, ways and means — have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads,” Johnson went on. “But now we’re being stonewalled by the White House because they’re preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward, a former White House counsel, the national archives, the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence.”
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has previously gone on the record to say the committee has received “100%” of the documents that it requested. However, Johnson was referring to subpoenas for more witness testimonies.
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Comer is contesting Hunter Biden’s attempt to forgo a closed-door deposition in favor of a public hearing. Comer is vying for a public hearing to come after his deposition. Stefanik agreed with Comer’s preference for a deposition, referring to a public hearing as a “press opportunity” for Biden and Democratic House members.
An impeachment inquiry vote is expected before the House begins its recess on Dec. 14.
