Speaker Mike Johnson suggests Biden impeachment inquiry vote imminent

The investigatory heat on President Joe Biden appears to be increasing amid word from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that a formal impeachment inquiry vote in the lower chamber is imminent, as Fox News reports.

The speaker appeared on Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday alongside Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to discuss a series of subjects, including whether a formal impeachment vote regarding Biden was likely in the offing.

According to Johnson, such a vote has become “a necessary step” and will likely occur in the near future.

“Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes,” Johnson began.

The Louisiana Republican continued, “We decried that use of it. This is very different. Remember, we are the rule of law team. We have to do it very methodically.”

Johnson pointed to the expansive investigatory work that has already occurred in relation to the Biden family, noting, “Our three committees of jurisdiction -- Judiciary, Oversight, Ways and Means -- have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads.”

With that said, however, the speaker lamented that those panels are “being stonewalled by the White House, because they're preventing at least two to three DOJ witnesses from coming forward, a former White House counsel, the national archives...the White House has withheld thousands of pages of evidence.”

Regarding suggestions that a formal impeachment inquiry vote may occur prior to the chamber's departure for its December recess, Johnson said, “I think it's something we have to do at this juncture.”

As The Hill noted, Johnson believes that revelations from existing investigations into the president and his family have been so voluminous that he has no other choice but to proceed in the manner he described.

“The evidence is so clear you cannot look away,” the speaker said.

Johnson further maintained, “The Constitution requires the House to follow the truth where it leads. We have a duty to do this. We cannot stop the process.”

Democrats have decried the notion of an impeachment inquiry and other investigations into the Bidens as little more than politicized attempts to harm the president's reelection prospects, but that is a characterization with which Johnson has long disagreed, citing findings already unearthed after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) launched such a process, though in the absence of an official vote.

In November, Johnson was quoted as saying, “At this stage, our impeachment inquiry has already shown the corrupt conduct of the president's family, and that he and White House officials have repeatedly lied about his knowledge and involvement in his family's business activities.”

“Now, the appropriate step is to place key witnesses under oath and question them under penalty of perjury, to fill gaps in the record,” Johnson went on, and with first son Hunter Biden already under an subpoena to provide testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Dec. 13, that appears to be exactly what is beginning to happen.