https://www.newsmax.com/us/joe-biden-impeachment-inquiry/2023/12/07/id/1145131/By Eric Mack | Thursday, 07 December 2023 10:58 AM EST
The House Rules Committee is meeting Tuesday to move toward an official floor vote on an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The committee will mark up the impeachment inquiry resolution expected to be voted on thereafter.
"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 Thursday read.
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.
While Hunter Biden's lawyers have only committed to public testimony, the House GOP leaders are demanding closed-door hearings under oath first because of the depths of the investigation documents to pour through. Refusing to appear for the closed-door testimony under oath would subject Hunter Biden to contempt of Congress proceedings.
The problem with that step, potentially, is President Biden's Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland would have to take up any House vote to recommend a charge of contempt of Congress by the president's son. 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.
Republicans have "no choice" but to push ahead as the White House has rebuffed their requests for information, Johnson told reporters this week.
"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 said.
The White House has repeatedly dismissed the inquiry as a "baseless exercise."
Biden was asked directly about the allegations of ties to Hunter Biden's foreign influence-peddling businesses, calling the House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer's allegations "just a bunch of lies."
A vote on the House floor — going into a presidential election cycle — amounts to a major test of party unity, given the GOP's narrow 220-213 majority. House Democrats for their part have remained unified in their opposition to the impeachment process, saying it is a farce by the GOP to take attention away from former President Donald Trump and his legal woes.
For the impeachment probe vote to succeed, nearly all House Republicans will have to vote in favor of the inquiry, putting them on record in support of a process that can lead to the ultimate penalty for a president, dismissal from office for what the Constitution describes as "high crimes and misdemeanors."
"All the moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision," he 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."
