Just this week, Rep. Troy Nehls has become the latest Republican to say the quiet part out loud and admit that the Republicans’ evidence-free impeachment of President Biden is politically motivated. House Republicans wasted all year investigating the President and have failed to present a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever. Instead of working on important issues like lowering costs for families, the MAGA House has only pursued this wild goose chase. The investigation is clearly at the hands of Trump and designed to harm President Biden ahead of the 2024 election and help Trump return to the White House, but don’t take our word for it:
Congressional Republicans Are Openly Admitting Their Investigations Are a Sham Revenge Tour. Trump and his MAGA allies have made investigations into the Biden Administration, Department of Justice, and so much more their number one priority – and they are already openly admitting these investigations are designed to target political opponents and influence public opinion for the 2024 elections:
- Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) reportedly said “he wants to give Trump ‘a little bit of ammo to fire back’ and say Biden has also been impeached.” [USA Today, 12/4/23]
- Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) emphasized former President Trump’s polling shortly after unilaterally announcing the impeachment inquiry: “President Trump is beating Biden right now in the polls. He’s stronger than he has ever been in this process.” [Spectrum News NY1, 9/18/23]
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) conceded that impeachment will likely fail, demonstrating that it’s just another partisan stunt: “I will concede that the votes that I have called for will likely fail — term limits, balanced budgets, maybe even impeachment — I am prepared for that eventuality because at least if we take votes, the American people get to see who is fighting for them.” [C-SPAN, 9/12/23, VIDEO]
- Gaetz admitted that the Republicans’ bogus impeachment of President Biden is about politics and the 2024 election – not any actual wrongdoing: “The purpose of the impeachment to me is to use the Senate as the stage, but they’re not the jury. The jury is the American people… it will not result in a conviction, but the true verdict can still be rendered by the American people.” [HuffPost, 9/6/23]
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) admitted that the impeachment inquiry is a nakedly political scheme to ensure Democrats “lose big” at the next presidential election: “We are going to drag Biden and everyone who covered up his crimes through the headlines day after day, month after month, and prove to the country the entire Democrat party is corrupt and can’t be trusted.” [The Independent (UK), 9/15/23] [X, 9/14/23]
- Greene all but admitted that MAGA impeachment efforts are politically motivated, tweeting: “We will not win in 2024 if we do not inspire the base and many people who won’t vote for Republicans because R’s are not addressing the two biggest issues in the country. Impeach criminals and protect kids if you want voters to flood the polls and vote Republican.” [Twitter, 6/21/23]
- Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) has suggested that the “GOP is targeting Biden as retaliation for Trump impeachments.”
- In May, Comer told Fox News in May that his investigations were responsible for Trump’s improving poll numbers against Biden: “You look at the polling, and right now Donald Trump is 7 points ahead of Joe Biden and trending upward, Joe Biden’s trending downward. And I believe that the media is looking around, scratching their head, and they’re realizing that the American people are keeping up with our investigation.” [HuffPost, 5/22/23]
- In October 2022, Comer told Fox News, “There are a lot of factors that are going to prevent Joe Biden from running. His age, the results of the midterm elections in two weeks. But also his son. Look, this Biden family investigation’s only going to ramp up in a Republican majority.” [“Fox and Friends,” Fox News, 10/26/22]
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted “Any GOP Member growing weak on this will sorely disappoint our country,” linking to a story about the expected GOP push for impeaching Biden. Weeks prior, she told reporters: “There’s going to be a lot of investigations, I’ve talked with a lot of members about this.” [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Twitter, 11/2/22; New York Times Magazine, 10/17/22]
- Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH): “so, all these things need to be investigated just so you have the truth, plus that will help frame up the 2024 race, when I hope and I think President Trump is going to run again and we need to make sure that he wins…” [Politico, 8/10/22]
- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) predicted House Republicans would “impeach Biden ‘whether it’s justified or not’ because ‘the Democrats weaponized impeachment’ when they twice formally accused Trump of wrongdoing.” [The Washington Post, 1/12/22]
Rolling Stone: Trump Is Calling Republicans to Ask ‘How Many’ Times They’ll Impeach Biden. “Donald Trump is calling his top allies in Congress to push for details on their plans for impeaching President Joe Biden and top administration officials, two sources with knowledge of the conversations tell Rolling Stone. Specifically, Trump in recent months has repeatedly asked “how many’ times Republicans plan to impeach the president if they take control of the House, the sources said. He has also, the sources said, asked about what they would do to impeach certain high-ranking Biden administration officials. Trump’s questions have touched on potential timelines for any potential impeachment inquiries, as well as on how much support impeachment has in the Republican conference. […] Trump’s ongoing discussions with Capitol Hill allies reveal his ongoing influence over the GOP caucus, as well as the power he’ll wield if Republicans win enough seats in Tuesday’s midterm elections to take over the House. But his interest in impeachment sets up a potential point of tension between him and GOP leadership in Congress, as top Republican lawmakers have reservations about the political wisdom of attempting to put Biden on trial.” [Rolling Stone, 11/6/22]
Congressional Republicans Have Been Planning Partisan Investigations All Along
January 2022: Washington Post: Sen. Ted Cruz Says Republicans Are Likely To Impeach Biden If They Retake House. “Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) predicted Republicans would move to impeach President Biden “whether it’s justified or not” if they retake the House in this year’s midterm elections. The White House responded Tuesday by calling on Cruz to work with Democrats toward bipartisan agreement on policy matters instead of “name-calling” and making political predictions. […] …the senator was asked whether he thinks there is any chance a Republican House would impeach Biden, given that Democrats had twice impeached President Donald Trump. ‘Yeah, I do think there’s a chance of that,’ Cruz said. ‘And whether it’s justified or not, as we talked about when ‘Verdict’ launched…’” [The Washington Post, 1/4/22]
Washington Post: Republicans Rally Around A 2022 Message: Revenge. “Republicans, their eyes on retaking one or both chambers of Congress come November, have yet to unite behind a slate of specific policies they’ll enact if they beat Democrats this year. But there is one thing a growing chorus of GOP voices is loudly promising: revenge. […] Republicans have introduced at least six impeachment resolutions targeting Biden, some citing his withdrawal from Afghanistan, others the border, where Trump faced just one at this point in his presidency. They’ve predictably gone nowhere in the Democrat-controlled chamber.” [The Washington Post, 1/12/22]
CNN: House Republicans Plot Investigative Revenge On January 6 Panel As Trump Itches For Payback. “House Republicans are plotting revenge on the select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, as the GOP weighs a broader effort to re-litigate some of Donald Trump’s biggest election grievances if it recaptures the House majority. The former President has been itching for payback and leaning heavily on his Capitol Hill allies to defend him against a recent slew of damaging revelations about his role in the deadly attack on the US Capitol. Now, as Republicans search for ways to undermine those findings, their party has started to lay the groundwork to investigate the select committee itself. Republicans have already asked the January 6 panel to preserve a broad range of documents in its possession – a signal they’re preparing to force those records to be turned over should they wield powerful committee gavels next year.” [CNN, 7/15/22]
August 2022: Bloomberg: GOP Vows Revenge for Trump Probes If They Win Congress “Republicans vow they will waste no time tearing into the FBI search of Donald Trump’s home and other investigations of the former president if the GOP wins control of Congress in November, signaling a protracted fight with the Biden administration. Party leaders and committee chairmen-in-waiting have already pledged to hold aggressive hearings and issue subpoenas in the wake of Monday’s unprecedented search of the former president’s Florida home.” [Bloomberg, 8/10/22]
November 2022: Media Matters: Ahead Of The Midterms, Right-Wing Media Issue Marching Orders For Potential Congressional Investigations. “In the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, Fox News figures, right-wing personalities, and their guests are anticipating the return of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and issuing marching orders to the potential GOP majority. Despite a history of condemning supposed ‘show trials’ held by Democrats, conservative commentators and personalities have assembled a lengthy list of baseless grievances for potential congressional investigations, should they come to pass. The targets of the investigations range from the Biden family to Attorney General Merrick Garland to a ‘general attack on liberty.’” [Media Matters for America, 11/4/22]
CNN: After Election Season, An Investigation Season Could Split The Country. “If American voters trade in Democrats for a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, everyone will be hearing a lot more about Hunter Biden, the current president’s troubled son. The House January 6 committee will be shut down, and the public inquisition Republicans have been pursuing for years against President Joe Biden’s son will go into public overdrive. GOP lawmakers do not have a detailed inflation plan, the issue driving many voters to the polls. But after years on the case of investigating Hunter Biden, who has struggled with substance abuse and made a career dealing with foreign nationals, they have prepared a 1,000-page road map they plan to present to the FBI and Department of Justice. Hunter Biden is already the subject of a two-pronged federal investigation in Delaware but has not been charged with any crime. It’s false to equate GOP efforts to investigate Hunter Biden’s business activities with the January 6 committee’s efforts to document the insurrection and Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. But it’s with a lingering taste of the January 6 hearings and also two Trump impeachment efforts – one of which was kicked off by Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate none other than Hunter Biden – that Republicans are planning to use the subpoena power of the House majority.” [CNN, 11/4/22]