WASHINGTON ― House Republicans may be on the verge of using their ultimate weapon against President Joe Biden: impeachment. Despite lacking evidence of Biden’s wrongdoing and the potential for electoral backlash, Republicans are determined to seek revenge for the dual impeachments of former President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hinted that an impeachment inquiry may be pursued after the August recess. McCarthy clarified that Republicans are currently focusing on an impeachment inquiry rather than a vote of impeachment on the House floor, as a way to intensify their investigations into the Bidens. However, many House conservatives already want Biden impeached.
Democrats also grappled with internal debates regarding Trump’s impeachment in 2019. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were initially hesitant but eventually authorized impeachment articles charging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. McCarthy believes that a House impeachment probe could encourage executive branch cooperation and court orders for compliance.
Republicans have alleged that President Biden is involved in his son’s past foreign business dealings in Ukraine and China. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father, then vice president, was pushing for a Ukrainian prosecutor’s removal. Trump pursued this allegation in 2019, even attempting to pressure Ukraine into announcing an investigation. However, testimonies during Trump’s impeachment proceedings indicated that removing the prosecutor was a U.S. foreign policy priority, rather than Biden’s personal motive.
Despite Republicans’ claims of new evidence against Biden, close examination reveals that it does not hold up. Republicans hope that by keeping the Biden family in the spotlight, they can undermine the president’s popularity and hinder his ability to promote his policies.
Anonymously, a Republican strategist stated that continuous exposure to Biden’s family corruption scandal will negatively impact the president’s credibility. However, former Republican National Committee spokesperson Doug Heye argues that impeaching Biden right now could backfire, similar to the Republican Party’s impeachment of Clinton, which boosted his approval ratings.
It remains uncertain whether House Republicans would have the necessary votes to impeach Biden. McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes, and there are 18 Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020. The Congressional Integrity Project, a political group defending Biden from GOP investigations, plans to leverage this margin of error in its digital ad campaign. The group aims to hold these 18 Republicans accountable for their failure to denounce “bogus impeachment stunts.”
The political consequences of impeachment are unpredictable. While Republicans predicted a backlash against Democrats for impeaching Trump in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed impeachment during the 2020 election. Senate Republicans are cautious about impeaching Biden, fearing the potential impact on their chances of regaining control of the Senate next year.
McConnell stated that impeachment should be rare, and Tillis emphasized the need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. McCarthy argued that the Biden administration’s withholding of information fuels the need for an impeachment inquiry. However, the White House highlighted that the Treasury Department has already granted Republicans access to suspicious activity reports related to Hunter Biden, and the Justice Department complied with a subpoena from the House oversight committee.
The White House accused McCarthy of prioritizing his own political agenda and disregarding the needs of the American people. Pelosi dismissed impeachment as a “diversionary tactic” and predicted that it would backfire on the GOP.