House Republicans on Thursday will take their latest step toward a historic impeachment of President Joe Biden — even as they downplay any future plans to try to boot him from office.
The House Oversight Committee will hold its first impeachment-related hearing since Speaker Kevin McCarthy formally launched an inquiry into Biden earlier this month amid pressure from his right flank. The opening salvo comes two days before an all-but-guaranteed government shutdown that Republicans have vowed won’t slow down their impeachment probe.
Conservatives who want to quickly recommend removing Biden from office continue to face skepticism from their own colleagues about the strength of the case for impeaching the president based on the evidence uncovered so far.
“The president has made false statements. …Whether or not we have reached the level to bring impeachment — clearly if we had, we would have. We’re not [there],” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif:), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have spent months seeking proof that Joe Biden – as president or vice president – acted to benefit his family or in exchange for payments to his family. The Oversight panel has gathered bank records, Treasury documents and interviewed associates of First Son Hunter Biden, who faces an ongoing federal case of his own after his plea deal imploded.
But no evidence has emerged that the business dealings of Hunter Biden or other family members directly affected Joe Biden’s decisions. That investigation is expected to escalate. with Comer preparing to subpoena records pertaining to Hunter and the president’s brother James Biden.
Democrats and the White House have criticized the GOP investigation as a political stunt aimed at damaging Joe Biden in next year’s election with no evidence of wrongdoing. They’ve also knocked Republicans for holding the hearing on the eve of a government shutdown, with no signs of an agreement that could avert a funding lapse. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Oversight Democrat, brought a sign counting down the time to a shutdown to the hearing.
“Neither the Speaker nor the Committee Chairs have set forth any facts establishing any wrongdoing by the President, let alone the ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’ required for impeachment under the Constitution. Instead, they have made clear that their inquiry will focus on baseless accusations that have already been repeatedly disproven,” House Oversight and Judiciary Committee Democrats wrote in a Thursday memo.
And while the House GOP investigation has turned up new evidence that Hunter Biden tried to leverage his family’s name to boost his business, Issa isn’t the only GOP lawmaker acknowledging that, so far, there’s no evidence that Joe Biden committed an offense that reaches the bar of impeachment.
Ending an impeachment inquiry without holding a vote on booting Biden from office would be an unusual step – one that would likely create peril for McCarthy. But centrist Republicans and their allies have also privately questioned if the speaker would force his vulnerable front-line members to take an impeachment vote absent a smoking gun that directly links Joe Biden’s official actions to his family’s business operations.
Thursday’s hearing is expected to provide little new information on that front. None of the witnesses will have direct knowledge about the Biden family businesses. Instead, the hearing is designed to serve as an explainer for an impeachment inquiry and the allegations being pursued by Republicans.
“They’re going to focus on how an inquiry phase is supposed to operate, why it was warranted,” Jordan said about what he expects from the GOP witnesses at Thursday’s hearing.
Republicans circulated a new memo on Wednesday night to their members outlining the scope for their impeachment inquiry, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.
The memo outlines why Republicans opened an inquiry, as well as the scope of the investigation. In addition to probing if Joe Biden’s actions as president or vice president were meant to benefit his family, the party also plans to dig into the federal investigation into Hunter Biden.
Comer is expected to take the lead on the first piece, while Jordan will lead on the second. Ways & Means Chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) is involved in the investigation because the panel he leads has the ability to release Hunter Biden records that would otherwise be protected by strict taxpayer privacy laws. IRS whistleblowers have been giving information to the Ways and Means panel, including a new tranche of documents released this week.
Comer, Jordan and Smith, in the memo, also caution that they haven’t yet come to a conclusion on whether or not Joe Biden has done something that warrants impeachment.
“This impeachment inquiry will enable the Committees to gather information necessary to assess whether President Biden has engaged in impeachable conduct. The decision to begin this inquiry does not mean that the Committees have reached a conclusion on this question,” the three chairmen write.
The memo also outlines the timetable for the probe, which will “span the time of Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency to the present, including his time out of office.” Republicans’ work will also include attempts to access Joe Biden’s records, as well as family members, Biden family associates and Biden and Obama administration officials.
