White House to GOP: End Biden impeachment inquiry
WASHINGTON — The
White House insisted Friday that House Republicans end their effort to impeach President Biden, declaring “enough is enough” after their monthslong inquiry failed to turn up promised evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors.
“It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker,” Edward Siskel, the White House counsel, wrote in a four-page letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana. “This impeachment is over. There is too much important work to be done for the American people to continue wasting time on this charade.”
The letter comes as the Republican impeachment drive has all but collapsed after the indictment of a key witness on charges of making up allegations against Hunter Biden, the president’s son. A number of Republicans have cast doubt on the venture, and even some champions of impeachment have now concluded they could not muster a majority if they sent articles to the floor charging the president.
The White House hopes to capitalize on Republicans’ disarray, in effect calling their bluff and daring them to put up or shut up. Biden’s team harbors little hope Republicans will formally call off the inquiry, much less acknowledge they have nothing much to show for it, but the president’s advisers want to make clear to the public that impeachment is effectively dead.
It is part of a newly aggressive strategy by the president as he embarks on his reelection campaign. After a period in which allies feared Biden was being too passive, he hopes to get back on offense as he engages in a rematch with former president Donald Trump, whom he defeated in 2020.
House Republicans are not quite ready to give up. They argue they are still investigating and have scheduled a hearing with Hunter Biden’s former business associates next week. They are also demanding recordings from the investigation of special counsel Robert Hur, who examined the president’s handling of classified documents, even though that was not among the topics of the impeachment inquiry and Hur decided no criminal charges were warranted.
But in a recognition that an impeachment vote is unlikely at this point, Republicans have been exploring an alternative strategy of issuing criminal referrals urging the Justice Department to investigate Biden or people around him. Such a move would carry no legal weight and would essentially be little more than a symbolic statement.