Republicans continue moving towards what’s anticipated by some to be an impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden, and the president’s team is paying close attention.
“This baseless impeachment exercise would be a disaster for congressional Republicans, and don’t take our word for it: just listen to the chorus of their fellow Republicans who admit there is no evidence for their false allegations and that pursuing such a partisan stunt will ‘backfire,'” Ian Sams, a spokesperson on the president’s team, said.
It’s not yet clear that Republicans in the House even have the votes necessary to begin a formal impeachment inquiry, though the GOP’s majorities on committees may still continue pursuing evidence in that context anyway. Hearings that have already been held have been understood by some to be laying the rhetorical groundwork for future impeachment proceedings, which figures like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have hoped would also target officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
There is no reasonable path to any impeachment case resulting in the removal of a targeted official from their position, because Democrats continue to control the Senate, where a two-thirds majority’s agreement would be required for doing so. In the meantime, Republicans have raised ostensible concerns about issues ranging from the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border to the president’s supposedly meaningful ties to ostensibly corrupt business dealings involving his son, Hunter Biden. Republicans have also run with claims of interference affecting the handling of a federal investigation into that presidential family member.
Republicans consistently misrepresent basic facts of what’s been seen at the southern border and have yet to show any direct financial ties between the president and those business arrangements. There’s also been no showing of involvement by the president in any ostensibly politicized handling of federal investigations into Hunter Biden, amid which prosecutor David Weiss recently was made a special counsel for continuing work. Weiss previously insisted he had wide-ranging authority to bring charges he found to be fitting.
