Some House Republicans Want to Fast-Track Biden Impeachment Push; House GOP Eyes Biden Impeachment But Warns ‘we’re not there yet’

WSJ: Some House Republicans Want to Fast-Track Biden Impeachment Push:

House Republicans, who launched multiple investigations into President Biden soon after taking control this year, are under pressure from their hard-right flank to move to impeachment proceedings even before their probes are final, testing how far the party wants to go in using the once-rare tool.

The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating what Republicans portray as the weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI, while the House Oversight Committee has been focused on the financial dealings of the president and his family.

Last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) took the effort into new terrain when she sought a snap vote on impeaching Biden over his handling of migrants at the border. House Republican leaders were caught off guard and managed to beat back an impeachment vote by transforming it into a vote directing the Homeland Security Committee to initiate an investigation. That vote then passed along party lines.

Republicans’ moves put the party on track to potentially pursue an impeachment vote headed into a presidential election year, a mirror image of what happened when Republican Donald Trump was in the White House.

“I hate that impeachment has been weaponized—I think that’s tragic,” said Rep. Eli Crane (R., Ariz.). But he said that Democrats had already turned impeachment into a political tool by impeaching Trump twice and that he believes there is evidence to impeach the sitting president. When asked what Biden had done to meet the standards for impeachment, he said: “You could ask the same question when they impeached Trump twice. Where was the high crime in that?”

Leaders have been more cautious.

“None of it smells right,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) on Fox News. “But I believe firmly, we have to have a constitutional reason of where to go and we want to follow the facts wherever it takes us.”

Trump was impeached in late 2019 for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family by using aid as leverage, and again in early 2021 for his actions related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) initially took a go-slow approach on the first impeachment but ultimately threw her support behind the effort after a whistleblower raised concerns about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.

Some House Republicans have flashed discomfort when asked whether they support impeaching Biden. —>READ MORE HERE

House GOP eyes Biden impeachment but warns ‘we’re not there yet’:

House Republicans took to the airwaves on Sunday to lay out the next steps in their investigations of President Biden’s alleged family business dealings abroad that they say will likely lead to an impeachment vote.

But Republicans warned against moving hastily without concrete evidence of wrongdoing, emphasizing that they currently lack a smoking gun. For now, the articles of impeachment have been sent to committees, sidelining them in the House.

“If the facts show that there’s high crimes, misdemeanors, bribery, treason, whatever — if the facts show there is the crime there that warrants impeachment, then our duty compels us,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But we have to first get all the facts on the table.

”Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican who represents a swing district in South Carolina, said in a separate interview on the same program that they must take a more methodical approach than what she said House Democrats took against former President Donald Trump.

“We have to be better than the left, better than Democrats when they impeached Trump twice,” Ms. Mace said. “We have to have an investigation. We have to have all the evidence, the dots connected, [it] has to go through committee, through Judiciary.

”Via a House Oversight Committee probe, Republicans say that Mr. Biden and his family were involved in a multimillion-dollar pay-to-play scheme with foreign nationals when he was vice president, based on anonymous whistleblower allegations and bank records of family members.

Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado infuriated Republican leaders last week and split the GOP conference when she filed privileged articles of impeachment that were required to receive a vote. House Republicans chose instead to punt them to committees to avert an up-or-down vote on final passage. —>READ MORE HERE

Source