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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
House Republican leaders on Monday prepared to launch a vote on the authorization of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden after spending the previous year investigating allegations that, through his son Hunter Biden, he essentially sold access to nefarious foreign interests.
“House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan briefed reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday on elements of the Republican case against Biden,” NPR reported on Monday. “Jordan said he hoped the House would vote ‘as soon as possible’ and possibly as early as this week. The move comes as key committee chairs continue to negotiate with witnesses they believe can help develop a case for corruption charges against Biden.”
Jordan told reporters: “We think it’s helpful to have that vote because we do think that someone will take us to court. Constitutionally it’s not required.”
However, he added: “If you have a vote of the full House of Representatives and a majority say we are in that official status as part of our overall oversight work, our Constitutional oversight duty that we have, it just helps us in court.”
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The Ohio Republican went on to say that Republicans have yet to decide what charges they will levy against Biden, should a vote to proceed with the inquiry move forward. He also said he would like to have another 10 people or so appear before his committee over the next six to seven weeks.
Those witnesses will include Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s brother James Biden, some Biden business associations, tax attorneys at the Justice Department who were involved in reviewing the investigation into Hunter’s tax filings over the years, and other officials who previously discussed whether or not to charge Hunter, as well as the cases they were building against him, NPR reported.
Jordan then discussed what he described as a pattern of corruption that likely began around 2015, when Hunter was approached about becoming a board member for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
“We don’t know that there are going to be articles yet, but I think the case is pretty compelling,” Jordan said, noting that possible charges against the president could include bribery, abuse of power, and obstruction. However, he said, “we’ll look at all the facts and make a decision,” adding that the situation with Biden mirrors Democrat charges against then-President Donald Trump in 2019.
In an interview Saturday with Fox News, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he believes he has enough Republican votes to launch an impeachment inquiry into Biden.
“I believe we will,” Johnson said when asked if the GOP will have the votes. “I suspect no Democrats will assist in this effort, but they should.”
He added during the interview that the inquiry is a “necessary step,” noting further: “I think it’s something we have to do at this juncture.”
“Elise (Stefanik) and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes,” Johnson said on Fox & Friends Weekend. “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.”
Just the News reported: The Biden administration has been facing investigations from House Republicans over his family’s overseas business dealings and alleged weaponization of the federal government. Johnson said that those leading the investigations are being stonewalled by the White House.
“Our three committees of jurisdiction — Judiciary, Oversight, Ways and Means — have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads,” he said. “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.”
