The US House of Representatives on Wednesday authorised the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, with every Republican rallying behind the politically charged process despite lingering concerns among some in the party that the investigation has yet to produce evidence of misconduct by the president.
The 221-212 party-line vote put the entire House Republican conference on record in support of an impeachment process that can lead to the ultimate penalty for a president: punishment for what the Constitution describes as high crimes and misdemeanors, which can lead to removal from office if convicted in a Senate trial.
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Authorizing the months-long inquiry ensures that the impeachment investigation extends well into 2024, when Biden will be running for reelection and seems likely to be squaring off against former President Donald Trump, who was twice impeached during his time in the White House.
The decision to hold a vote came as House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team faced growing pressure to show progress in what has become a nearly year-long probe centered around the business dealings of Biden’s family members. While their investigation has raised ethical questions, no evidence has emerged that Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes in his current role or previous office as vice president.
Ahead of the vote, Johnson called it the next necessary step” and acknowledged there are a lot of people who are frustrated this hasn’t moved faster.
In a recent statement, the White House called the whole process a baseless fishing expedition that Republicans are pushing ahead with despite the fact that members of their own party have admitted there is no evidence to support impeaching President Biden.
House Democrats rose in opposition to the inquiry resolution Wednesday. “This whole thing is an extreme political stunt. It has no credibility, no legitimacy, and no integrity. It is a sideshow,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said during a floor debate.
Some House Republicans, particularly those hailing from politically divided districts, had been hesitant in recent weeks to take any vote on Biden’s impeachment, fearing a significant political cost. But GOP leaders have made the case in recent weeks that the resolution is only a step in the process, not a decision to impeach Biden. That message seems to have won over skeptics.
“As we have said numerous times before, voting in favor of an impeachment inquiry does not equal impeachment,” Rep. Tom Emmer, a member of the GOP leadership team, said at a news conference Tuesday.
Emmer said Republicans will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, and if they uncover evidence of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, then and only then will the next steps towards impeachment proceedings be considered.
Most of the Republicans reluctant to back the impeachment push have also been swayed by leadership’s recent argument that authorising the inquiry will give them better legal standing, as the White House has questioned the legal and constitutional basis for their requests for information.
A letter last month from a top White House attorney to Republican committee leaders portrayed the GOP investigation as overzealous and illegitimate because the chamber had not yet authorised a formal impeachment inquiry by a vote of the full House.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, also wrote that when Trump faced the prospect of impeachment by a Democratic-led House in 2019, Johnson had said at the time that any inquiry without a House vote would be a sham.
-Agency reports