“The House has no choice if it’s going to follow its constitutional responsibility to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, it will be at the apex of our constitutional authority,” he said during a press conference.
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment, and that’s a necessary constitutional step.”
House Republicans have been investigating allegations that the Biden family profited from foreign nationals through the use of Joe Biden’s office as Vice President of the United States and later a leading candidate for the president of the United States, as well as allegations that the Biden administration hampered efforts to investigate this claim.
Top Republicans have said an impeachment inquiry will help further the investigation, granting subpoena power and access to additional materials. The White House has pushed back, stating it has been cooperative in turning over more than 35,000 pages of private financial records.
“According to the Constitution, you don’t need it, you can start an impeachment inquiry the way we’re doing it,” he said. The impeachment of President Donald Trump had also proceeded the same way, following the authorization of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“[Former] Speaker of the House [Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] said it three months ago, but we think it always helps if the full House of Representatives on the record, a majority of that body, has said this is an official impeachment inquiry,” Mr. Jordan said, adding he expected court challenges to the impeachment inquiry as well.
Mr. McCarthy had on Sept. 12 authorized the impeachment inquiries to be conducted by the judiciary panel, as well as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
On a Saturday appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” he revealed discussions to bring a vote had already taken place with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Republican Conference. He pushed back on the claim that the inquiry was politically motivated, saying they would “follow the facts.”
He noted that Democrats had not done the same when impeaching President Trump.
“Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes. 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,” he said.
Financial Dealings
According to House investigation records, Biden family members and associates earned millions from foreign nationals in countries such as China, Russia, and Ukraine during the time President Biden had been campaigning or serving as vice president.IRS whistleblowers had testified that subsequent attempts to investigate Biden family finances were purposefully delayed for political reasons.
Hunter Biden has been the at center of such investigations. He has been recently been charged with illegal possession of a gun while he was a drug addict, after he revealed this fact in a memoir, but has not been charged for any financial crimes. He had been under investigation for tax related crimes since before 2020, and special counsel David Weiss has suggested he may pursue charges in California or Washington after dropping charges in Delaware.
