(NewsNation) — The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution authorizing an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, something House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is defending as Congress’ “constitutional duty.”
“If there’s bribery, high crimes, misdemeanor, we are compelled by the Constitution to move there,” Jordan said Tuesday on “CUOMO.” “I think the case is already pretty compelling.”
The House Rules Committee on Tuesday voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry, passing a resolution that would launch a formal investigation into the president.
With the committee vote over, the next step will be a vote on the House floor. If the resolution passes, which would require the support of nearly all of the 221 Republican representatives, a formal inquiry would begin.
Republicans say a formal inquiry would give them more power to enforce subpoenas and gather information the White House has resisted providing.
Jordan, one of the congressmen leading the charge for impeachment, was against the impeachments of former President Donald Trump, saying at the time that they were bad for the country.
So, why is the Republican pursuing one against Biden?
“We have taken a much more practical approach” to the inquiry than Democrats did in 2021 during the second impeachment, Jordan said. “There was no hearings, there was no nothing, they just rushed it to the floor and did it.”
For months, Republicans have been probing allegations that Biden used his name and office to profit off his son Hunter’s business dealings. To date, lawmakers have not been able to provide any evidence directly linking the president to any crimes.
They’ve heard testimony from a former business associate of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, who said he put his father, then the vice president, on speakerphone in the presence of business partners more than 20 times throughout the course of their relationship.
After the August meeting with Archer, Rep. Dan Goldman said Archer testified that Hunter Biden was trying to give the “illusion” of access to his father. But Republican Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, doubled down on the idea that Archer’s testimony validated then-Vice President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement.
Jordan said Tuesday that he, too, believes Archer’s testimony ties Biden to the alleged crimes, specifically using his influence as vice president to get a prosecutor in Ukraine fired. That prosecutor was investigating Burisma, a gas company whose board Hunter Biden sat on.
“When we asked Devon Archer in the deposition, ‘when you get asked by Zlochevsky, the head of Burisma, when he asked you and Hunter Biden to weigh in in D.C. because they’re under this pressure, what what did Hunter Biden do next?’ Devon Archer’s answer in the deposition this summer was (Hunter) called his dad,” Jordan said.
Archer said he had “no knowledge” of whether Biden altered any U.S. foreign policy while he was vice president to benefit his son.
House Republicans also allege that the Justice Department sought to stonewall a special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden, who has now been indicted twice by that special counsel on gun and tax evasion charges.
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Hunter Biden to testify in a closed-door hearing Wednesday. His attorneys said he would be willing to testify publicly, something Jordan says he would welcome only after the private session.
“In public, it’s always speeches and filibusters and a handful of questions and people trying to get the big moment,” Jordan said. “We want to start with the deposition.”
NewsNation digital producer Stephanie Whiteside and The Hill contributed to this report.