The Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden appears to be moving toward an end without much to show for it. Multiple Republicans are publicly admitting they don’t have enough support to impeach the president.
“We don’t have the votes,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said. “I say vote it up or down. I’m tired of people saying they’re going to do, they’re going to vote to impeach the president, they’re going for Hunter Biden, and then they wink and nod to their buddies up here that they’re not going to do it. Let’s vote it. Let’s show where the votes are.”
There are a number of Republicans who say they’d vote to impeach the president because they believe the evidence is there.
“I’ve seen enough — $20 million, no proof they paid any taxes, Communist Chinese influence,” Burchett said. “That’s enough.”
However, even those who support impeachment admit there aren’t enough Republicans on board. So between lacking support and Democrats remaining unified in their opposition, as of now, an impeachment vote would fail.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is leading the inquiry, recently told Newsmax that he thinks it would be better to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department. Those referrals would urge the department to investigate specific crimes but they are not binding.
“Now we want accountability,” Comer told Newsmax. “And I believe that the best path to accountability is criminal referrals.”
Democrats have opposed the impeachment inquiry from the very beginning. However, they renewed their calls for its end after a key witness was indicted on charges of lying to the FBI about the Bidens.
Alexander Smirnov could face 25 years in prison if found guilty of making false statements on an official record, known as a 1023 form.
“We now know the 1023 form was a lie,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said. “It was all false. It came from Russian intelligence, disinformation, the guy’s been indicted. My colleagues on the other side know this. So they know the genesis, the beginning, the birth of the fake impeachment into the president was Russian disinformation.”
There’s no timeline for wrapping up the impeachment inquiry. As of right now, there are no more hearings on the schedule.