December 13, 2023
The House of Representatives just passed the formal authorization of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The final vote – 221-212.
All the Republicans voted yes and all the Democrats voted no. One Democrat did not vote. He was absent due to a death in the family.
As I told you in this video yesterday, this vote doesn’t do much because the impeachment inquiry has been going on for several months already. So it’s just going to continue. And in case you’re wondering by definition an impeachment inquiry is a theory in search of facts. In this case, the Republicans have a theory that President Biden was involved in wrongdoing during the time he was a candidate and when he was Vice President. But they don’t have the facts to prove that theory so they can actually impeach him on crimes and misdemeanors. That’s what the inquiry process is supposed to uncover. But whether those facts are there to found – is a different story. We will have to wait and see what they actually find.
So what’s the point of the vote today? Well – there’s a political reason and a logistical reason. So let’s start with that – the House Speaker – who is a constitutional lawyer believes logistically — a formal authorization of the impeachment inquiry through a vote of the House removes any question of the constitutional authority the House has to move forward.
But there’s a political reason too. Politically – today’s vote with all that Republican support symbolically shows the House is serious about this and they can actually unify and ultimately vote to impeach President Biden if it gets to that.
