The House Rules Committee announced Thursday it will consider a resolution next week to formalize Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The panel will mark up a resolution on Tuesday, Dec. 12 to direct the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees to continue their work investigating Biden.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week that he believes that Republicans would get the votes they need to formalize their probe, which was launched in September by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, is joined by, from left, Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and James Comer, R-Ky., Nov. 29, 2023, in Washington.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
“All the moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision,” Johnson said. “This is a legal decision. It’s a constitutional decision. Whether someone is for or against impeachment is not of import right now. We have to continue our legal responsibility and that is only solely what this vote is about.”
House Republicans have alleged, without proof, that Biden was directly involved in and benefited from his family’s business dealings. The White House has called the inquiry “extreme politics at its worst” and has pushed back on GOP claims the administration has obstructed the probe.
Lawmakers have held one public hearing, which offered several contentious moments but no new evidence.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Thursday that Republicans are pursuing impeachment against Biden because they “have nothing to show for their narrow, fading and decreasing majority — nothing.”
“They want to hide their extreme right-wing agenda from the American people. And that’s why we continue to see censure resolution after censure resolution being brought to the floor. And next week, we’re going to waste time on an illegitimate impeachment inquiry targeting President Biden and his family.”
