- House Republicans view it as almost certain that they will move forward with impeaching Biden this fall.
- Right now, the question is about a vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry.
House Republicans increasingly believe it is near certain that they will move forward with an impeachment against President Joe Biden later this fall, CNN reported.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has raised the possibility that Republicans will take the step to formalize an impeachment investigation. A vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is not a direct vote on impeachment, but it would make a major escalation in House Republicans' probes of Biden.
Republicans, according to CNN, don't think they can abandon their moves against Biden without giving him the imprimatur of innocence. Thus far, Republicans have yet to produce evidence that Biden was the beneficiary of a nefarious bribery scheme while he was vice president. The FBI lashed out at Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, for releasing a confidential bureau document that recounted an alleged bribery scheme.
"Once the barn doors are open, so to speak, the horses are out," an unnamed senior House Republican told CNN. "You're not gonna get them back in the barn."
CNN also reported that House Republicans are increasingly resigned that, if they vote for an impeachment inquiry, they will later vote to explicitly impeach Biden.
While often the case, a formal impeachment inquiry vote is not necessary to impeach an official. It is almost beyond certain that the Senate would vote to acquit Joe Biden. Senate Democrats hold a narrow majority and it takes 67 votes to convict.
Many Republicans feel that Democrats unfairly impeached President Donald Trump and have hinted as a result they want to retaliate against Biden. Trump's second impeachment in the House was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history.
Republicans control a razor-thin majority, meaning they could only lose four votes if every single Democrat opposed moving forward on impeachment. Of particular note are the 18 Republicans who represent congressional districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020.
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who represents a Biden-won district, told CNN that it "seems apparent that President Biden wasn't being honest" when he denied involvement in Hunter Biden's business dealings.
"Did the president commit high crimes or misdemeanors? The committees need to do more digging to clarify this," Bacon told CNN. "There's tons of smoke, but let's verify what's beneath that all."
The White House quickly dismissed the latest report as another example of an effort to "smear" Biden.
"The real truth: Their own witnesses testified POTUS wasn't involved. Subpoenaed records they obtained show no link to him. In-depth independent reporting has proven many of their claims false," White House spokesperson Ian Sams wrote on Twitter, quoting the CNN article. "Yet the @HouseGOP won't let facts stand in the way of abusing their power to smear him."