GOP-led House votes to formalize impeachment inquiry into President Biden

Although House Republicans voted Wednesday to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, GOP leadership has made a point to indicate the move does not mean impeaching the president is inevitable, even as pressure grows within the party and among the Republican base.

“We’re not going to prejudge the outcome of this because we can’t,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “It’s not a political calculation. We’re following the law and we are the rule of law team and I’m going to hold to that.”

Biden slammed the House vote Wednesday night, calling it a “baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts."

Here are key things to about how the inquiry and how the impeachment process works in Congress:

• Initiating impeachment proceedings: Up until this point, House Republicans had not had enough votes to legitimize their ongoing inquiry on the Biden family's alleged foreign business dealings with a full chamber vote. The probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president, which is why it hadn't garnered the unified support of the full GOP conference. Part of the reason for Wednesday’s vote came from the White House telling the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry. That prompted some reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts. The Trump administration made a similar argument against House Democrats at the start of his 2019 impeachment. The argument from Republican proponents of the effort, according to multiple GOP lawmakers and aides, is that a floor vote will strengthen their legal standing against the White House and fortify their subpoenas to secure key witness testimony.
• Investigating impeachable offenses: Impeachable offenses, according to the Constitution, include “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” What exactly constitutes those crimes, particularly High Crimes and Misdemeanors, has been the subject of vigorous debate throughout US history. During previous impeachment inquiries, a House committee, usually the Judiciary Committee or its subcommittee, conducts an investigation to see if a federal official’s conduct warrants impeachment. Since former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the Biden inquiry in September, the trio of committees leading the investigation have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members. Even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden.
• House votes: If the process moves forward, each of the committees will provide input to include in articles of impeachment that would be written up under the House Judiciary Committee, which would vote on whether to refer them to the full House of Representatives. After that committee vote, the articles, if approved, are given special status on the House floor and it requires a simple majority of voting lawmakers to approve them.
• A Senate trial: After the House votes to impeach a president, the Constitution calls for a trial in the US Senate. If there were a trial, senators become jurors and the chief justice of the US Supreme Court presides. The House votes on managers who bring the trial in the Senate. Although they might be helped by outside counsel, the House managers bring the trial and present evidence. The impeached official can offer a defense or have counsel do it.

CNN's Haley Talbot and Manu Raju contributed reporting to this post.

House Oversight Chair James Comer and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan took a victory lap after every House Republican voted in favor of formalizing the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, overcoming the lack of votes when it was first unilaterally launched in September under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

But when asked by CNN if formalizing the inquiry meant that bringing articles of impeachment against the president is now inevitable, Comer said, “I don’t know about that." He said that would be the job of the Judiciary Committee, adding, "I don’t impeach. I just investigate.” 

Jordan added, “The House has now spoken and I think pretty loudly, pretty clearly with every single Republican voting in favor of moving into this official impeachment inquiry phase.”

Jordan said formalizing the inquiry will help investigators get "key individuals in to speak to us in a more timely fashion" and get access to additional documents.

Comer said there are roughly 5,000 emails from Biden’s time as vice president where he used a pseudonym. He said the National Archives has turned over around 1,200 pages included in their latest tranche of documents provided to the House Oversight Committee.

GOP Rep. Ken Buck, who voted to formalize the inquiry after saying for days he was leaning against it, suggested to CNN that his Freedom Caucus colleagues helped convince him to support the resolution. 

“He buttered me up,” Buck quipped, pointing at GOP Rep. Andy Biggs. 

CNN’s Melanie Zanona contributed reporting to this post.

President Joe Biden is calling the House vote to formalize its impeachment inquiry into him a “baseless political stunt.”

“Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts," Biden said in a statement shortly after the vote on Wednesday.

The president referred to issues like the economy, the southern border, Ukraine and Israel and said “Republicans in Congress won’t act to help.” He also called out congressional Republicans for leaving Washington, DC, before acting to make progress on any of these issues. 

“There is a lot of work to be done. But after wasting weeks trying to find a new Speaker of the House and having to expel their own members, Republicans in Congress are leaving for a month without doing anything to address these pressing challenges,” Biden said in the statement.

The House voted along party lines Wednesday night to formalize an impeachment inquiry into the president with a vote of 221-212.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said the evidence to justify an impeachment of President Joe Biden will come during the impeachment inquiry.

“I think there's a there's plenty of proof there. We're going to tie all this down. So I think it's pretty likely that we are moving towards impeachment, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We want the evidence to speak for itself,” Donalds told CNN’s Manu Raju.

His comments came after the House voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry on Wednesday. The probe into the Biden family's alleged foreign business dealings had struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president, which is why it previously hadn't garnered the support of the full GOP conference.

When pressed on whether he was concerned about members in vulnerable districts, Donalds said he was unfazed.

“That’s fear-mongering. This isn’t about safe district and marginal districts. It’s about doing the job of Congress under the Constitution,” he said. 

When asked about members who have been skeptical about impeachment, Donalds said that’s why the investigation is so critical.

“Well, that's why we're gonna finish our investigation, so our point is very clear. Voting for an impeachment inquiry allows us to finish our investigation,” he said.

The White House declined to answer when asked about President Joe Biden's thoughts on his son Hunter Biden defying a congressional subpoena for closed-door testimony. Hunter Biden has said he is willing to testify publicly.

“I would have to have to refer you to … Hunter’s personal representatives. He's a private citizen. I'm just not going to get into it,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Wednesday.

House Oversight chair James Comer and House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan said in a joint statement that they will now “initiate contempt of Congress proceedings” against Hunter Biden. 

In 2021, President Biden was asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about those who refused subpoenas from the January 6 committee. He said that the Justice Department should prosecute them, saying in part “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable.”

The GOP-led House has approved a Republican resolution to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with a party line vote of 221-212.

All GOP representatives voted to formalize the inquiry, including Rep. Ken Buck who previously said he was leaning against it.

Part of the reason for Wednesday’s vote comes from the White House telling the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry, reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers started to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts.

The vote comes as the president's son Hunter Biden defied Republican investigator’s subpoena for closed-door testimony and reiterated that he is willing to testify publicly as part of the GOP-led investigation into the president.

But even as the majority of House Republicans rally around the inquiry vote, GOP leadership has made a point to indicate that formalizing the inquiry does not mean impeaching the president is inevitable, even as pressure within the party and among the Republican base grows.

“We’re not going to prejudge the outcome of this because we can’t,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “It’s not a political calculation. We’re following the law and we are the rule of law team and I’m going to hold to that.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, echoed Johnson’s sentiment by telling reporters, “Voting in favor of an impeachment inquiry does not equal impeachment.”

More on the inquiry: Since former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the inquiry in September, a trio of committees leading the investigation have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members.

Even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden. There has only been one hearing related to the inquiry since its launch, where the expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged GOP investigators hadn’t yet presented enough evidence to prove the accusations they were leveling.

The GOP-led House is voting now on a resolution to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

Up until this point, House Republicans have not had enough votes to legitimize with a full chamber vote their ongoing inquiry into whether the president has committed an impeachable offense in connection to his family’s foreign business dealings. The probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president, which is why it hasn’t garnered the unified support of the full GOP conference.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched the inquiry in September, even though he had previously criticized Democrats for taking the same step in 2019 when they launched the first impeachment probe of then-President Donald Trump without taking a vote at the beginning.

But current House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team say they are now confident they have enough support to pass the vote on the floor.

At least one Republican lawmaker though is not solidly behind the vote to formalize the inquiry. Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who has been an outspoken critic of his party’s inquiry into the president, said Tuesday, “I’m leaning no.”

The vote comes as Hunter Biden defied Republican investigator’s subpoena for closed-door testimony and reiterated that he is willing to testify publicly as part of the GOP-led investigation into the president.

More on the vote: Part of the reason for Wednesday’s vote comes from the White House telling the trio of GOP-led congressional committees leading the investigation that its subpoenas were illegitimate without a formal House vote to authorize the inquiry, reluctant, more moderate Republican lawmakers started to get on board with their party’s investigative efforts. The Trump administration made a similar argument against House Democrats at the start of his 2019 impeachment.

Since then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in September, the trio of committees leading the investigation have been trying to build momentum.

They have interviewed various officials from the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service while also obtaining a mountain of documents and new bank records, including from Biden family members.

Now, the House is expected to vote on Wednesday afternoon to formalize the inquiry into the president — something Republican proponents of the vote say will fortify subpoenas and strengthen the inquiry's legal standing. GOP members of the House Rules Committee also argued the move was in response to stonewalling by the administration to hand over documents it requested.

But, even as Republicans issue new subpoenas and schedule more depositions, including with the president’s brother and son, they still have not uncovered credible evidence that backs up their loftiest claims against Biden. There has only been one hearing related to the inquiry since its launch, where the expert witnesses called by Republicans acknowledged GOP investigators hadn’t yet presented enough evidence to prove the accusations they were leveling.

At every stage, House Democrats and the White House have refuted and sometimes even debunked the accusations leveled by Republicans, who have tried to connect Joe Biden to his son’s million-dollar overseas deals.

Focus of the probe: The House Oversight panel — one of the committees leading the investigation — has focused on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and sought to make connections to his father. In the early stages of their investigation, they interviewed five people and issued nine bank subpoenas, but have ramped up to issue nine subpoenas for testimony in the last month. The Republican-led committee released a document last week showing payment from Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, to Joe Biden when he was not in office — but they omitted evidence that the president’s son was repaying his father for a car.

There have also been two personal checks from the president’s brother, James Biden, to Joe Biden when he was not in office, that the committee released. However, available evidence suggests these were loan repayments.

Even though these payments are a far cry from the Republican accusations that the president profited from his family’s foreign business dealings, the existence of the checks has provided fuel to the president’s political opponents and the GOP far-right base.

The House is expected to begin votes on the floor at 5 p.m. ET. The vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is expected around 5:45 p.m. ET, as it's the second to final vote of the afternoon.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier today that he expects the impeachment inquiry vote on the House floor today will pass.

After that vote, the resolution condemning antisemitism on university campuses and the testimony of university presidents in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will be the final vote, expected just before 6 p.m. ET.

Remember: These times are always subject to change.