The GOP-led House has voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s alleged corruption. The resolution passed in a 221-212 vote, establishing that there is “sufficient grounds” for the investigation to continue after the House Rules Committee voted on it on Tuesday.
House votes to formally authorize Biden impeachment inquiry https://t.co/ZndR25ukFu
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) December 13, 2023
The move, Republicans believe, will generally allow them access to more information and authorize them to enforce subpoenas. As laid out by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), formalizing the impeachment inquiry would help fight what he called “stonewalling” by the White House.
“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’ll be at the apex of our constitutional authority,” he said last Tuesday.
All 221 Republicans voted in favor of the resolution, including Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) who said he was torn between where to stand. During a CNN interview on Monday, Buck had complained about a lack of evidence in the probe against Biden while having a problem with the White House’s lack of cooperation with the probe.
All Democrats present voted against the resolution, with the exception of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), who did not vote at all citing the loss of a family member.
Congressional investigators, led by the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committees, have been investigating the business practices of Biden and his family, looking for any signs of corruption. As part of the probe, investigators are looking into a suspicious money trail from foreign countries and the Department of Justice’s handling of its investigation into the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Biden has denied participation in his family dealings and has called the investigation into him and his family “a bunch of lies.” House Democrats have also stood by the president, claiming that the impeachment inquiry lacks legitimacy and evidence.
However, House Republicans are insistent in the president’s culpability and have accused him of lying up to 15 times about his family’s dealings.
“Joe Biden has repeatedly lied about his family’s business dealings. Joe Biden claims he never spoke to his family about their business dealings; his family never received $1 million in payments through a third party; his son never made money in China; his son’s dealings were ethical; and his son did nothing wrong,” the House Oversight Committee wrote in an August release which highlighted 16 times that “Biden lied about his family’s dealings over the years.”