Republican Impeachment Inquiry Stuck in Place for the Time Being

With Hunter Biden pushing back against a closed-door deposition and moderate GOP members silent on the issue, it is unclear when the impeachment inquiry will move forward.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden at the White House on April 10, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Congressional Republicans’ push to impeach President Biden has stalled for the time being. The GOP’s next step may only come after an interview with Hunter Biden, which the first son is now demanding take place in a public setting instead of a closed-door deposition. 

On Wednesday, Republican leaders announced they were launching a “one-stop shop” website where the public can see what they say is proof of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Biden.

“This impeachment inquiry … continues to provide the American people with the answers they both demand and deserve,” the House Republican conference chairwoman, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, said. “They have found over $10 million from China, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania funneled through the corrupt influence-peddling schemes to line the pockets of the Biden crime family.” 

The three committee chairmen leading the impeachment inquiry — Congressman James Comer of the Oversight Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Jason Smith of the Ways and Means Committee — appeared alongside Ms. Stefanik, Speaker Johnson, and other members of leadership to put the impeachment probe back in the spotlight. 

“This door was wide open to his family’s influence-peddling schemes,” Mr. Comer said of the Biden family, noting that the president’s son, brother, sister-in-law, and daughter-in-law, among others, received money originating from foreign countries that passed through the first son’s business. “No one is above the law, even if your last name is Biden.”

Despite the months-long investigation into the first family, House GOP leaders have been unable to create sustained momentum for an impeachment push. A former speaker, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, announced the beginning of an impeachment inquiry in September without authorization from the full House, which the White House says makes the inquiry illegitimate

Mr. Comer noted, though, that another former speaker, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, began her 2019 impeachment inquiry into President Trump without a floor vote. “This is how they conducted their impeachment inquiry of President Trump,” Mr. Comer said at the Wednesday press conference. The House voted to authorize the formal impeachment inquiry a few weeks later. 

Punchbowl News reported on Wednesday that the House majority whip, Congressman Tom Emmer, told GOP colleagues that the House may take up a formal authorization vote in the coming weeks. 

Some Republicans are also openly saying that an impeachment of Mr. Biden would only harm the GOP and energize the president’s base of supporters. According to a poll conducted in October by Spectrum News, a majority of independent voters and 28 percent of Republicans do not want to see Mr. Biden impeached. 

“To impeach Joe Biden in the House, knowing it’s not going to go to the Senate, there’s no point,” Governor Huckabee told Real America’s Voice on Tuesday. “All it becomes is a political disaster.”

A real roadblock for the House GOP could be members of the Biden family refusing to testify before the committee in a closed-door session conducted by attorneys as opposed to partisan legislators. 

On Tuesday, the first son’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told Mr. Comer in a letter that Mr. Biden would be willing to sit for a public interview before the Oversight panel prior to the end of the year, which Mr. Comer says is unacceptable because his “lawfully issued subpoena” demands that he appear for a private deposition. Mr. Jordan said at the Wednesday press conference that he hopes to have Mr. Biden “for a deposition … and then a public hearing.”

NBC News reported that the president’s brother, James, is cooperating with the committee but has not yet set a date for private or public testimony.


The New York Sun

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