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Some House Republicans Admit There Is No Evidence to Impeach Biden [1]
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Date: 2023-12-12 16:39:36
A number of House Republicans are openly admitting that there is no evidence to impeach President Joe Biden, even as they prepare to vote to officially authorize the probe later this week.
"Probably not," Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters on Tuesday morning when asked if Biden committed high crimes or misdemeanors. "They're getting millions of dollars off the Biden name ... that's not to say there was a crime by the president."
The hedging from some House Republicans comes as they also plan to vote to formally on the House floor to green light the inquiry on Wednesday.
It's a step that the party skipped when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened the investigation in September. But the GOP, including some moderates, argue the move is necessary now to bypass what they argue is the Biden administration's stonewalling of the probe.
But even as they plan to vote to officially open the investigation, Republicans are saying that there isn't enough evidence at this stage to impeach the president, who has been under constant congressional scrutiny since the GOP took over the House earlier this year.
Republican Main Street Caucus chair Dusty Johnson of South Dakota said on Monday that "there's not evidence to impeach." But Johnson said the vote this week was not about whether the party would impeach the president or not.
”I’m not an expert,” he told reporters — and declared that “we have had enough political impeachments in this country.” Still, he’s willing to back leadership’s play because he said the Biden White House hasn’t fully complied with everything.
Rep. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., speaks to reporters following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 27, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“I don't like the stonewalling the administration has done,” Johnson said. “But listen, if we don't have the receipts, then that should constrain what the House does.”
Republicans have argued that the formalization of the probe will give the party a stronger hand to play in potential legal battles over compliance with subpoenas in the probe. The party is already locked into a high-profile battle with Hunter Biden, the president's son, over his testimony in the inquiry. Hunter Biden has refused to sit for a deposition in the probe but said he would testify in a public hearing.
GOP investigators have been unable to produce any evidence directly linking the president to his family's overseas business deals, which has been a focal point of the probe. Similarly, allegations of a bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Biden have been contradicted by numerous witnesses in the investigation.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., also said he would support the impeachment inquiry as a "necessary step" and viewed it as a "kind of a formality" to give investigators the strongest tools to conduct the probe. But Newhouse, one of two House Republicans left in Congress who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, insisted the opening of an inquiry does not mean the House will eventually vote to impeach Biden.
"I don't think that's a foregone conclusion," he said, noting the inquiry is designed to "get the answers to the necessary questions in order to be able to make that decision."
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[1] Url:
https://themessenger.com/politics/some-house-republicans-admit-there-is-no-evidence-to-impeach-biden
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