The furor over Biden's classified documents rekindles House Republicans' sweeping impeachment agenda

• Talk of impeaching President Biden and his cabinet officials grew louder on Capitol Hill this week.
• Biden fueled some of the simmering outrage by disclosing possession of old classified files.

Whatever reservations House Republicans might have had about racing to impeach Biden administration officials after narrowly reclaiming control of the chamber began melting away this week as conservatives called for the ouster of multiple Democratic leaders amidst a swirling federal document hunt.

While some House GOP members jumped back into languishing priorities like impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, others quickly seized on President Joe Biden's newly-revealed alleged mishandling of classified documents — an evolving situation that's already spawned another special counsel-led probe by the Department of Justice — as reason enough to boot the current president.

"I'll echo again: impeach Biden. And that's what we need to do," Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said Wednesday at the US Capitol, bemoaning a "two-tier justice system" that she said has treated twice-impeached former President Donald Trump unfairly.

Greene, who's become one of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's staunchest supporters since he promised to restore her committee assignments and possibly add congressional oversight to her to-do list, drafted or signed onto myriad articles of impeachment filings in the last session, including five (H. Res. 57; H. Res. 596; H. Res. 597; H. Res. 598; H. Res. 1318) against Biden, one (H. Res. 608) against Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and one (H. Res. 1318) against Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Several of the other House Freedom Caucus members who twisted McCarthy's arms last week before allowing him to claim the speaker's gavel were involved in the dozen-plus GOP impeachment proposals introduced during the last term — including an anti-Mayorkas bid recently resurrected by Republican Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas.

McCarthy didn't stump for impeaching anyone specifically Thursday at the US Capitol, but did say that the Biden situation seemed like something for the new Judiciary subcommittee tasked with probing the alleged "weaponization" of the federal government.

"It could go in front of that committee or others," McCarthy told reporters. "But I think Congress has to investigate this."

While he acknowledged that he had not been fully briefed about the latest Biden-related developments, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he trusted that the president was cooperating with authorities and would work out "how to move forward in a responsible fashion."

"I have full faith in President Joe Biden," Jeffries told reporters during a Capitol Hill press conference.

He said that Republicans, on the other hand, appear determined to spend the next two years on "impeachment and investigation, focused on witch hunts, not working families."

Putting Mayorkas on notice (again)

Having finally settled the protracted leadership fight that 20 conservative holdouts put McCarthy through in order to dictate their terms for the 118th Congress, Rep. Fallon wasted no time introducing articles of impeachment (H. Res. 8) against Mayorkas for border security-related issues.

Four days later, he'd already collected 18 GOP cosponsors, including speaker holdouts Reps. Mary Miller of Illinois, Keith Self of Texas, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Bob Good of Virginia.

Scandal-plagued freshman Rep. George Santos of New York, who's been hit with calls to resign from across the political spectrum, also signed on to try and force Mayorkas out.

Republican Rep Andy Biggs of Arizona, who also extracted concessions from McCarthy last week, has been raring to get rid of Mayorkas for over a year now.

On Thursday, he announced that the fight was back on, posting on social media that he'd be updating his articles of impeachment (H. Res. 582) against Mayorkas "with even more justification very soon."

McCarthy tried to tamp down impeachment talk ahead of the midterms, telling reporters "we will not play politics with it" in late September. After the red wave failed to appear, the California Republican stood at the US-Mexico border alongside frustrated GOP colleagues and told Mayorkas his days were numbered.

"If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure," McCarthy said during a swing through El Paso, Texas, teeing up a likely "impeachment inquiry."

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Chip Roy told Insider that impeachment "didn't really come up" while he and the other Freedom Caucus members mapped out what they wanted in return for allowing McCarthy's speaker bid to proceed.

While he said Mayorkas remains a prime target for impeachment, Roy said he thinks Republicans need to follow the proper procedures now that they're in charge.

"We gotta have hearings. Explain how it's a high crime and misdemeanor under the history of our impeachment articles. And then make the case," Roy said just off the House floor.

He threw out, however, that Mayorkas could make things easier on everyone.

"Maybe he'll have the honor to resign for having failed to do his job," Roy mused.