R-LA House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for a formal impeachment inquiry vote against President Biden, deeming it a “necessary step” amid the White House’s resistance to House Republicans’ investigations into alleged Biden family misconduct.
Johnson expressed these sentiments during a Saturday interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” alongside House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, R-NY, addressing various topics, including inquiries about potential impeachment proceedings.
“It’s become a necessary step,” he said. “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.”
“Our three committees of jurisdiction — judiciary, oversight, ways and means — have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads,” he continued. “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.”
Reaffirming his belief in moving forward with the process, Johnson said a “formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow [Republicans] to take it to the next necessary step.”
“I think it’s something we have to do at this juncture,” he added.
Following statements from various Republicans on Friday, Johnson’s remarks coincide with expectations that a vote formalizing President Biden’s impeachment inquiry will occur before the House of Representatives adjourns for the December recess.
House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., mentioned that he anticipates receiving the legislation “sometime next week,” setting the stage for a House-wide vote shortly afterward. According to Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., the House-wide vote is likely to take place “before we break” on December 15.
“I think that every Republican should be convinced about voting for the impeachment inquiry, there’s plenty of smoke there,” Gimenez said.
Following a closed-door House GOP Conference gathering, Republicans, including Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., reiterated their case for lawmakers. Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., described the meeting as an effort “to assess support and ensure thorough communication, allowing everyone to grasp the distinction between an impeachment inquiry and impeachment.”
“It’s important we get it done as soon as possible so that we can move forward with this investigation,” Hern said.
Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said a vote would likely come “soon” and contrasted the push to formalize Republicans’ impeachment inquiry with how House Democrats handled former President Donald Trump, moving forward with the impeachment process without a House-wide vote.
“We’re actually trying to do it the right way,” Murphy said.
In September, ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called for a House impeachment inquiry into Biden. However, the White House deemed the probe illegitimate, emphasizing the absence of a formal vote on the matter. The administration’s reluctance to comply with House investigators’ subpoenas has prompted support for formalizing the inquiry, even among Republicans in districts won by Biden in 2020.
Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital, “This is what the administration has asked for.”
“The administration made it very clear, they weren’t going to actually work with our constitutional authority, unless we did the vote. Fine,” Schweikert said.
On Friday morning, Oversight Democrats released a five-page memo countering Republicans’ assertions, referencing a “mountain of evidence” that, according to them, exonerates Biden from any wrongdoing.
