House Republicans authorize impeachment investigation into Joe Biden. What's next?

WASHINGTON − Republican investigators are projecting confidence about their impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden after the House formally authorized the push, even as it lacks evidence supporting their allegations.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters Wednesday that House Republicans' unanimous vote formalizing the impeachment inquiry "shows we’re united."

"We expect to have people honor our subpoenas. We want to wrap this investigation up.” Comer said in a news conference alongside House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo.

It's not clear when Republicans hope to wrap up their investigation into the president. But a senior House Republican aide said they hope to finish it “expeditiously” and come to a decision about whether to draft articles of impeachment against Biden.

Republicans have accused Biden of leveraging his previous position as vice president to influence and benefit from his family’s foreign business dealings. Though the inquiry has turned up evidence showing the president’s son, Hunter Biden, used his family name to his advantage, GOP lawmakers have not directly implicated the president.

House Republicans have made the president’s son a focal point of their investigation.

The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena calling on him to testify behind closed doors on Wednesday. But Hunter Biden instead defied the subpoena and delivered remarks on Capitol Hill criticizing the inquiry and accusing GOP lawmakers of weaponizing his battles with drug addiction to attack his father.

After his rare public comments, House Republicans zeroed in on a key part of Hunter Biden’s remarks, when he said “my father was not financially involved in my business.” Comer and Jordan have pointed to the word “financially,” questioning whether the president may have been involved but not directly tied to handling money.

“Joe Biden was not financially involved in his family’s business dealings. Exactly how was Joe Biden involved?” Comer and Jordan said in a joint statement.

Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, pushed back on that argument in an interview on CNN on Thursday morning, saying Comer and Jordan were misrepresenting a "semantic thing."

"The president was not in business with his son, period," Sams said. "They're trying to make up all sorts of allegations."

Whether House Republicans will begin actual impeachment proceedings stretching beyond their initial investigation also isn't clear. House Democrats have called Republican efforts to remove Joe Biden from office inevitable, but some GOP lawmakers from swing districts are keeping their cards close to their chest after approving the inquiry.

“Not the politics. The facts and evidence will determine any next steps,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who represents a district Biden won in the 2020 election, said Wednesday evening. “We didn’t have a vote on impeachment.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Republicans authorize Joe Biden impeachment inquiry. What's next?