Table Of Content
- As expected, Sen. Eric Schmitt objects to timing agreement
- Senate now voting on another adjournment motion until April 30
- House Floor Proceedings
- Some Senate Republicans have suggested they won’t convict Mayorkas
- Sen. Murphy: A trial for political purposes would have set a worse precedent
- House Republicans vote to launch impeachment inquiry into President Biden
White House spokesperson Ian Sams, in a memo last week, refuted claims that the White House is obstructing the inquiry. Sams said House Republicans have had access to 35,000 pages of financial records, 36 hours of witness interviews and more. The House voted to formalize rules and procedures for the Trump inquiry about a month later. It's not yet clear that Republicans have the votes to succeed, particularly after their margin for error was cut from four to three votes with Friday's expulsion of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. White House spokesman Ian Sams accused the speaker and House Republicans of following the lead of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has aggressively called for the impeachment of Biden. There had been 18 GOP Biden districts, but New York Republican George Santos was expelled from the House last week, leaving Johnson and the GOP with just a three-seat majority.
As expected, Sen. Eric Schmitt objects to timing agreement
Party leaders have said their support for sidelining Greene's resolution is not the same as a vote for Johnson. Minutes after the vote, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, in a statement threw cold water on the prospect of the Senate beginning an impeachment trial before Mr. Biden is inaugurated next Wednesday. He endorsed a later start to the proceedings and effectively handed responsibility for the process to Democrats, who will soon control the chamber. WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House will vote next week on formally authorizing its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday, asserting Republicans have “no choice” but to push ahead as the White House has rebuffed their requests for information.
Senate now voting on another adjournment motion until April 30
House Republicans filed their impeachment inquiry resolution Thursday morning, which is expected to get a vote next week to authorize their investigation into President Joe Biden. Some House Republicans, particularly those hailing from politically divided districts, had been hesitant in recent weeks to take any vote on Biden’s impeachment, fearing a significant political cost. But GOP leaders have made the case in recent weeks that the resolution is only a step in the process, not a decision to impeach Biden. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said that he believes Republicans have the votes to approve the resolution.
House Floor Proceedings
In September, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., instructed the three committees to obtain bank records and other documents from the president and his son Hunter Biden. A band of conservatives, led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, plans to throw up procedural roadblocks, try to delay the issue and put the spotlight on Democrats’ refusal to conduct a trial and hold Mayorkas accountable for what they view as his failure to secure the southern border. “He’s going to say that this is— the allegation did not constitute high crimes or misdemeanors and it shows that it’s just a policy dispute. The Senate will break from normal business to begin the impeachment at 1 p.m. Schumer added, however, that he hopes to get an agreement with Republicans on timing, giving them the chance to offer votes on points of order before Democrats move to dismiss the charges.
Pentagon officials say they are deeply worried about protests that are planned for the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. next week. About 16 groups — some of them saying they will be armed and most of them made up of hard-line supporters of Mr. Trump — have registered to stage protests in Washington, officials said. As up to 20,000 troops continued to arrive in Washington from all over the country, Defense Department officials had been weighing whether to deploy them with arms. Mr. McCarthy has decided that at the very least those around the Capitol building will carry weapons, said the officials, who confirmed the decision on the condition of anonymity.
Never mind that Senate Republicans let the former president off the hook each time. Nevertheless, one Republican lawmaker told CNN this week that people wish Comer had “reined in” his rhetoric about the Biden investigation, so as to temper expectations. But the Ukraine corruption story has been repeatedly investigated, starting in 2019 after then-president Trump tried to coerce Ukraine into announcing an investigation into the Bidens, withholding military aid and getting impeached in the process.
The margin for error was cut from four to three votes after the recent expulsion of former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. Defense Department officials said that the White House had signed off on the decision to arm some of the National Guard troops coming to Washington to provide security. Pentagon officials have underscored that the National Guard — not active-duty military troops — will be assigned to those duties.
Sen. Murphy: A trial for political purposes would have set a worse precedent
They called the visits suspicious, noting that tours have been restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, about 30 lawmakers joined Ms. Sherrill in requesting an investigation from the acting House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the Capitol Police into what Ms. Sherrill called “suspicious behavior” and access given to visitors to the Capitol complex the day before the riot. Lawmakers had to walk through the new magnetometers in response to concerns about Republicans bringing guns to the House floor. Typically, lawmakers are allowed to bypass the magnetometers at the entrances to the buildings. Some lawmakers lamented the threat that made their presence necessary, with many Democrats irate about the role they said their own Republican colleagues had played in whipping up the rage of the mob that assaulted the Capitol, putting the lives of members of Congress in danger. Throngs of armed, camouflage fatigue-clad members of the National Guard ringed the Capitol and lined its halls on Wednesday as the House met to debate impeaching President Trump for inciting an insurrection, one week to the day after a mob egged on by Mr. Trump stormed the building.
House Republicans vote to launch impeachment inquiry into President Biden
Speaker Mike Johnson says he thinks he has the votes to authorize Biden impeachment inquiry - NBC News
Speaker Mike Johnson says he thinks he has the votes to authorize Biden impeachment inquiry.
Posted: Sat, 02 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Not holding the president accountable for his actions would be “a direct threat to the future of our democracy,” he said. Only two other presidents have been impeached; none has been impeached twice, by such a large bipartisan margin, or so close to leaving office. So House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants the full House to vote on it to authorize the inquiry. Its passage is still up in the air, though it appears like it will pass because more centrist Republicans, who previously opposed it, have said they will vote to open the inquiry. But he's now supporting the inquiry and for White House “to provide the information” to GOP investigators. Bacon noted he's also part of an informal team to build support for the inquiry ahead of a floor vote.
On Wednesday, 10 GOP members joined with all Democrats to impeach Trump. Wednesday’s vote comes the same day that the House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Hunter Biden to testify behind closed doors in the probe. Hunter Biden has offered to come in for an open hearing, but Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has been adamant that an initial deposition take place behind closed doors. “In light of the attack on the Capitol and intelligence suggesting further violence is likely during the inaugural period, my administration has re-evaluated our preparedness posture for the inauguration, including requesting the extension of D.C.
The axe fell on McCarthy in October, and it has hovered above his successor, Johnson, from the moment he was sworn in. For his part, Mr. Valadao has been a reliable Republican vote in the House since his support for impeachment and has said very little about it in the intervening months, aside from voting for Mr. Katko’s doomed Jan. 6 commission. The best-known of his announced Republican opponents is Loren Culp, the former chief of a one-man police department who was the G.O.P. nominee last year against Gov. Jay Inslee. Mr. Culp lost by more than half a million votes, then declined to concede and falsely claimed that fraud had cost him the election. The most vocal House Republican to vote to impeach Mr. Trump, Ms. Cheney has borne the brunt of the former president’s wrath. Last week, in an attempt to narrow a crowded field, Mr. Trump endorsed Harriet Hageman, a former Republican National Committee member and a 2018 candidate for governor in Wyoming, in the primary against Ms. Cheney.
In a livestream on Tuesday night, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said she feared that some of her colleagues would put her in danger by revealing her location. During the riot by his supporters, a Capitol Police officer sustained extensive head injuries and later died. He also did not acknowledge the loss of life or his own false claims of the election being stolen in the two months before the rally last week. Mr. Trump recorded the video under pressure from aides, who have warned him that he faces potential legal exposure for the riot, which occurred immediately after a speech in which he urged them to “fight” the results of the election, which he falsely claimed was stolen. There is no precedent, however, for disqualifying a president from future office, and the issue could end up before the Supreme Court.
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