(NewsNation) — House Republicans are expected to ramp up their impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden next week.
Republicans expect a vote on the House floor to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry after House GOP members received updates on the ongoing investigations by three House committees Friday.
House Republicans are claiming the White House is stonewalling their investigations into alleged links between Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings because there was never a formal vote to authorize their impeachment inquiry.
“There has been no ‘stonewalling.’ Despite receiving this significant volume of material, House Republicans have just failed to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden — but plenty of evidence debunking their claims,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a memo released Friday.
In the memo, Sams lays out thousands of pages and several witnesses given to House Republicans in response to their investigation, but Republicans have a different view.
“The White House is fighting us on this. The Justice Department is fighting us on this. So, we got to have the vote,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy greenlit the impeachment inquiry in September but never had an official vote. House Republican conference leaders are making the argument they are not getting the documents and seem to be working on getting support to formalize the investigation.
Previously, some moderate Republicans had reservations about an impeachment inquiry, but Norman predicted, “If it comes to the floor, we have the votes.”
An impeachment inquiry is an investigation and not a formal vote to impeach, but the impeachment process has political effects.
“Is it warranted? Probably. Is it politically smart? I don’t know. I don’t think so,” said Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., about the investigation.
“I want President Biden to be on the ticket,” Garcia went on to tell Punchbowl News.
Biden is not the only one being probed. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been under investigation by the House Homeland Security Committee over his handling of the border, led by that committee’s chair, Mark Green, R-Tenn.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has attempted to impeach Mayorkas twice.
This week, Greene introduced an impeachment resolution but backed off after she got assurances from Green that “we’ll be moving forward with impeaching Secretary Mayorkas through the Homeland Committee.”
“The impeachment resolution will be reaching the floor soon,” Greene said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
As government funding runs out in January and February, the House will have to weigh competing priorities.