Reputable and prominent Speaker Mike Johnson publicly stated on Saturday that he firmly believes that House Republicans possess the necessary collect votes to initiate a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, asserting that it is an essential step under the given circumstances.
During an appearance with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who is a fellow member of House GOP leadership, on Fox News, Johnson, R-La., declared his intention to bring a vote on impeachment.
“Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice, when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes. We decried that use of it. This is very different. Remember, we are the rule-of-law team. We have to do it very methodically,” he said.
Johnson accused the White House of obstructing the three GOP-led House committees overseeing the impeachment inquiry — Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means.
“They’re preventing at least two to three [Department of Justice] witnesses from coming forward” and “withheld thousands of pages of evidence,” Johnson alleged. “So a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step. And I think it’s something we have to do at this juncture.”
Johnson expressed confidence in his party’s ability to launch the impeachment inquiry without Democratic support.
The White House, which has denounced House Republicans‘ impeachment inquiry efforts as “illegitimate,” was not available for immediate comments on Saturday.
On Friday, Republicans leaving a closed-door conference meeting indicated that the House could vote to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into the president as early as next week. “That’s the plan,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told reporters.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., claimed that the GOP leadership would set the timing for the vote, but he expressed a desire for it to happen “sooner” rather than later.
Republican support for launching the inquiry solidified over Congress’ Thanksgiving break, Comer added. “I think our conference went home last week and they heard from people at Walmart, people on Main Street who were like, ‘Find out the truth about Joe Biden’s knowledge and involvement in his family shady business.'”
Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, announced in September that his party would open a Biden impeachment inquiry, instructing the three committees to obtain bank records and other documents from the president and his son Hunter Biden.
Last month, House Republicans issued subpoenas focused on the family’s business dealings, asking Hunter Biden; James Biden, the president’s brother; and Rob Walker, a Biden family associate, to appear for depositions. The subpoenas came a day after the special counsel overseeing an investigation into Hunter Biden testified before the Judiciary Committee behind closed doors.
The Oversight Committee said that it has obtained financial documents that, it alleges, show that members of the Biden family had established over 20 shell companies, most of which were set up during Joe Biden’s time as vice president. Those companies, the panel alleged, were part of an effort to cover up payments from foreign adversaries.
White House counsel Richard Sauber condemned the subpoenas as “unjustified,” writing in a letter that the “requests were sent despite the fact that, after a year of investigating, voluminous records and testimony from dozens of witnesses have refuted your baseless allegations about the President.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
