WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) says next week the House will vote on whether to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment, and that’s a necessary constitutional step,” Johnson said.
For months, Republicans have been investigating allegations that the President used his political power for financial gain.
“Our investigation continues to produce evidence revealing President Biden’s corruption and litany of lies,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said.
However, they launched the impeachment inquiry without a formal vote.
“We’ve come to this sort of inflection point because right now the White House is stonewalling that investigation,” Johnson added.
Speaker Johnson claims the White House is refusing to turn over certain documents and let some witnesses testify.
He hopes an authorized inquiry will give them the legal power to dig deeper.
“The House has no choice, if it’s going to follow his constitutional responsibility, to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor, so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, we will be at the apex of our constitutional authority,” Johnson said.
Democrats say the White House has cooperated, and officials gave House investigators tens of thousands of pages of financial documents and treasury reports, along with 36 hours of testimony.
“And Republicans still cannot point to a single policy decision or action that Joe Biden has taken has violated any law,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said.
With the federal budget and international aid packages still waiting for action, Democrat leaders are accusing House Republicans of wasting time.
“More focused on censors and impeachments and chaos and extremism than they are about actually governing,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said.
