House Republicans are forging ahead with their effort to formalize their monthslong impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden ahead of a full vote on Wednesday.
The GOP-led House Rules Committee met Tuesday and voted 9-4 to send a resolution to a full vote on the House floor which directs "certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach" the president.
"None of us know all the facts. And the reality is that is what we are seeking to do, is to empower the committees to have the ability to fully investigate charges and come to independent conclusions and make a recommendation," Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Ok., said. "We're simply trying to give the investigators the tools they need to get to the truth and report back to the Congress and then the Congress will be free to take whatever action, if any, it decides to take."
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that his conference had "no choice" but to formalize its inquiry, which is probing Biden's alleged involvement in his family's business dealings. A formal impeachment probe would give House committees investigating the president more precedented authority to demand information from the White House and other parties under scrutiny.
"We have no choice," Johnson said. "It's not a political decision. It's a legal decision."
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday that the full House vote would come on Wednesday.
"That's why we need to have the vote on impeachment inquiry tomorrow and then ultimately, bring this before a judge, because the White House is trying to keep the public from seeing all the facts. We're going to get the facts out one way or another," Scalise said.
Thus far, the monthslong probe has not yielded direct evidence of wrongdoing by the president himself, something that Democrats on the panel were quick to point out during Tuesday's meeting.
"Trump says jump, the MAGA extremists say 'how high?' Donald Trump asks them to impeach Joe Biden, and here we are," said Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the ranking Democrat on the panel, accusing Republicans of "waging this extreme political stunt by abusing and weaponizing the impeachment process" and charging that they "tried to overturn the elction" on Jan. 6, 2021, "and now they want to finish the job."
McGovern made the case that the House GOP has been given "extraordinary cooperation" from the White House and that their claims against Biden have been roundly debunked.
"When this is all over, I'm confident that the American people will overwhelmingly agree that this whole impeachment stunt is a national disgrace," McGovern said, later characterizing the proceedings as a "waste of time."
While a full House vote on formalizing the impeachment inquiry could be a headache for some moderate Republicans, particularly those who represent districts President Joe Biden won in 2020, several frontline GOP lawmakers have signaled that they will support opening up the inquiry.
"Voting in favor of an impeachment inquiry does not equal impeachment," said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer at a GOP leadership press conference on Tuesday, adding that the resolution will "put us in the best position possible to enforce our subpoenas and set forth a clear process."
The White House and President Biden's reelection campaign dismissed the impeachment inquiry as meritless and “illegitimate,” branding it an effort to appease right-wing lawmakers.
"Instead of trying to deliver results for the American people, Trump’s MAGA followers in the House are using their power to pursue an evidence-free impeachment sham all to help Trump’s 2024 campaign," said Michael Tyler, the Biden reelection effort's communication's director, on Tuesday.
“This baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear President Biden,” Ian Sams, White House Spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations, said last week.
“Instead of doing anything to actually help people before leaving Washington for a month, these extreme House Republicans are hoping to distract from their own failed ability to govern by trying to score cheap political points in an effort to mollify [Georgia GOP Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is in open war with her own party’s Speaker," Sams said. "The American people are yet again going to see a clear contrast in priorities: President Biden who is focused on solving the challenges facing America and the world, and extreme House Republicans who only focus on stupid stunts to get attention for themselves.”
The White House on Tuesday pointed to an article from POLITICO which showed Senate Republicans are lukewarm on the probe being put forward by their House counterparts.
“I think they're a long way from coming to a conclusion there,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., a member of Senate GOP leadership, told the outlet. “I don't see the grounds for this yet.”
“You're not going to have this president impeached based on the evidence that we've seen come to light,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said to POLITICO. “Impeachment used to be taken pretty seriously. It should be taken pretty seriously. It's like the biggest consequence possible for a sitting president.”
"There may be, of course, evidence, I don't know, but there's been no evidence provided to the public yet or certainly to me to suggest an impeachment inquiry or impeachment itself is justified," added Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
"Weaponizing government, pursuing enemies, and engaging in political theater," Tyler added. "That’s Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican party."
President Biden last week dismissed the allegations that he interacted with his son and brother’s business associates as “a bunch of lies.”