The House Republican majority is preparing to vote as soon as next week to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Politico reported Friday.
Making the inquiry into the Biden family's foreign business dealings official would allow Republicans to strengthen their hand in potential legal battles over subpoenas issued in the investigation.
"That's the plan," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told the outlet after a closed-door meeting Friday morning to update Republicans on the status of the investigation.
According to several members in the meeting, nobody stood in opposition to moving forward with a vote as soon as possible.
That is a stark change from when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., unofficially kicked off the inquiry months ago, with some moderate Republican members voicing concern at the time.
"They said we'll only give you documents if you have a vote on an inquiry, so I feel like we have to vote yes, and it's different than an impeachment itself," said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of the moderates.
Republican Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania have signaled that they are still hesitant to move forward with a formal impeachment.
Buck said he had not seen anything yet that would bring him to vote for the inquiry.
Fitzpatrick said he wanted to talk to GOP Reps. James Comer of Kentucky, chair of the Oversight Committee, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the Judiciary Committee, before deciding.
House Democrats, in anticipation of a vote soon, sent out a five-page memo Friday slamming Republicans for claiming that Biden exchanged policy decisions for money while he was vice president.
The evidence collected by the Oversight Committee "shows no wrongdoing by President Biden, much less an impeachable offense, and time and again, has proven the core allegations against the President to be false," the memo stated.
Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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