(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declared on Saturday his intention to initiate a formal impeachment inquiry vote against President Joe Biden, citing the White House’s refusal to cooperate with Republicans in their investigation of the embattled president’s alleged scandals.
Johnson’s remarks follow the White House’s refusal to provide documents to the congressional committees spearheading the inquiry, arguing that the investigation lacked legitimacy due to the absence of a House vote.
“It’s become a necessary step,” stated Johnson regarding the potential vote during an interview with Fox News. “[Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.] 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.”
The speaker’s commitment to conduct a vote directly responds to White House assertions that, in order to aid the House Oversight Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee — tasked with leading the investigation — House Republicans need to proceed with an impeachment vote.
Notably, similar arguments were advanced by the Trump administration when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., led the impeachment inquiry against former President Donald Trump. However, these arguments were widely disregarded by Democrats, who conducted an impeachment vote months after initiating the inquiry.
“Our three committees of jurisdiction — judiciary, oversight, ways and means — have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads,” Johnson continued.
Here are the straightforward facts:
– $15 million flowed to the Biden family from countries like Russia and China
– 22 times President Biden talked to his son’s business associates
– 16 times President Biden lied about it to the American people
– And we have checks made out to… pic.twitter.com/WcUs4a7Ji7— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 2, 2023
“But now we’re being stonewalled by the White House, because they’re preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward, a former White House counsel, the national archives… the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence,” the speaker added.
In a letter addressed to House Republicans, White House special counsel Dick Sauber raised eyebrows when issuing a letter last month. Sauber cited Trump’s defense against Pelosi’s impeachments in a bit to push back against the investigation into accusations against Biden over alleged corruption, bribery and an illegal influence-peddling scheme overseas.
“Indeed, both of you previously maintained the stance that commencing an impeachment inquiry without a House vote ‘constitutes an abuse of power and casts a shadow on the House of Representatives,'” Sauber asserted in the letter, dismissing the impeachment investigation initiated by House Republicans.
