OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican leaders are planning a series of legislative moves aimed at President Joe Biden ahead of the 2034 election they feel are necessary to keep the spotlight on him.
The moves come as a sort of ‘plan B’ option after GOP leaders have come to the conclusion that they likely do not have the votes to impeach the president despite his refusal to effectively enforce immigration and border security laws as well as claims of past family corruption, Politico reports.
“Republicans are determined not to give up on a push that’s still a high priority for the GOP base — especially since abandoning it altogether could alienate conservatives they need to turn out in November,” the outlet noted. “So they’re exploring backup options to keep the spotlight on … allegations that Biden misused the public offices he’s held to benefit his family’s businesses.”
Those alternative plans include legislative reforms such as stricter financial disclosure requirements and implementing guardrails for foreign lobbying. Additionally, they entail making criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Hunter Biden and others. There’s also potential consideration for a lawsuit to compel testimony from DOJ officials. Some within the GOP conference have argued for continuing the investigation, potentially pushing it closer to Election Day, Politico reports, adding:
Any of those off-ramps come with risks of their own — namely that they require cooperation from the Senate or the Justice Department — but, the current GOP thinking goes, Republicans would at least have something to show to their anti-Biden voters with their thin majority on the line.
Asked if he would mind the inquiry ending without an impeachment vote, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) instead said that his “No. 1 priority” has long been “to get the truth to the American people … and pass influence-peddling legislation.”
“I feel like we’re on track to do what my objective was. Now, if we impeach, then we impeach — and you know how I would vote on that — but that’s not up to me,” Comer told the outlet in a short interview.
Last week House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter to the Department of Justice in which he accused it of stonewalling the Republicans’ request to speak to tax officials about Hunter Biden.
Jordan said that they would consider a lawsuit to get the testimony.
Some GOP lawmakers are pushing for an impeachment vote, even if it would fail.
“Instead of losing every time by surrender, I would rather try, fight and if you lose some you lose some, but you have a chance to win,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told Politico, adding that more moderate Republicans have admitted Biden “should be impeached.”
Earlier in the month, Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters following Hunter Biden’s behind-closed-doors testimony before his panel and the House Judiciary Committee what the next steps likely are in Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry.
Comer said the GOP will be moving into its “next phase” that could include having Hunter return for public testimony, though the first son’s attorney threw cold water on that, Fox News Digital reported.
Hunter’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told reporters: “The transcripts of witnesses who have been called to date, including Hunter’s, makes it obvious that there is nothing left to ask, answer, say or do. This illegitimate inquiry should have ended long before their star witness was indicted for lying but it wasn’t. Now that Hunter has put this partisan conspiracy to the lie that it is — on the record and under oath — this political charade should finally come to an end.”
Hunter testified that he “did not involve” his father in his businesses while heavily criticizing House Republicans for having “hunted” him in a “partisan political pursuit” and impeachment inquiry against the president.
In addition, Lowell also said the GOP has no evidence against his father, the president, “because there isn’t any.”
Comer stressed that Hunter and his attorney have “demanded” a public hearing following the deposition.
“Just as I said, when we said we were going to do the deposition first, we will have a public hearing next,” he explained. “So I think that the public hearing hopefully will clear up some discrepancies between some of the statements that were made between some of the associates and what we heard today.”
