The House Rules Committee will meet early next week to decide whether to put the issue of launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden to a vote of the full chamber.
“Directing 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 Joseph Biden, President of the United States of America, and for other purposes,” the panel’s announcement noted on Thursday, per Newsmax.
The outlet added:
House Resolution 918 lays out the official impeachment inquiry steps and does not amount to an official impeachment vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned earlier this week.
Notably, advancing the impeachment inquiry out of the committee will come just one day before Hunter Biden is due to testify behind closed doors on alleged foreign influence peddling business potentially tied to President Biden, including when he was a private citizen and the vice president under former President Barack Obama.
Lawyers for the first son have demanded he only appear for a public hearing, but Republicans want to depose him behind closed doors first — which is standard procedure — due to the depth of documents that need to be discussed. If he refuses, he will subjected to contempt of Congress proceedings — if his presidential father allows the Justice Department to act.
“Executive power of the White House over the DOJ would make any charge unlikely, even if it would have bad optics for an incumbent president in an election year,” Newsmax pointed out.
Johnson said the White House’s refusal to cooperate meant that the GOP-controlled chamber had “no choice” but to move ahead with a former impeachment inquiry vote.
“The House has no choice if it’s going to follow its constitutional responsibility to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, we will be at the apex of our constitutional authority,” Johnson told reporters.
“All the moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said. “This is a legal decision. This is a constitutional decision. And whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now.”
“We have to continue our legal responsibility and that is solely what this vote is about,” he added.
