To: Interested Parties
From: Kyle Herrig, Congressional Integrity Project Executive Director
Date: September 12, 2023
Re: Questions for House Republicans on Impeachment as They Head to the Floor Tonight
The leaves might not be falling yet, but August recess has come to an end and members have arrived back at the Capitol. Instead of debating bills to lower costs for working families or strengthen Social Security and Medicare, MAGA Speaker McCarthy caved to the extreme MAGA members in his caucus and has announced a vote-free impeachment inquiry, going back on his promise from just eleven days ago.
As you run into House Republicans in the hall, welcome them back to town with these critical questions all members should be on the record on:
1. Do you agree with what Speaker McCarthy said in 2019 – that impeachment without a vote is illegitimate?
Four years ago, then-Minority Leader McCarthy demanded a vote for opening an inquiry into then-President Trump. Three times, he pushed the House to vote on an impeachment inquiry. He even called an impeachment inquiry without a vote “devoid of any merit or legitimacy
2. Do you agree with MTG that this is all to hurt Biden ahead of 2024?
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) 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]
3. Would you vote for impeachment if Speaker McCarthy called the bill today — given the evidence you have now?
Despite James Comer and Jim Jordan’s attempts to spin straw into gold, their eight months of partisan investigations have turned up not a single shred of wrongdoing by President Biden. Don’t take our word for it:
- Biden-18 Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY): “Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) — whose district Biden won by 10 points last cycle — told Fox News in an interview Monday that “we’re not there yet” when asked how he would vote on a resolution to open an impeachment inquiry. And Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), whose constituents broke for Biden 52.2 percent to 45.8 percent in 2020, told The Hill last month, ‘I think we need to have more concrete evidence to go down that path.’” [The Hill, 9/7/23]
- Anonymous Republican Lawmaker: “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or that Joe Biden, you know, agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money. There’s just no evidence of that. And they can’t impeach without that evidence. And I don’t I don’t think the evidence exists.” [CNN, 8/28/23]
- Biden-18 Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE): “Yet other Republicans, like Bacon, say the congressional investigations have failed to prove that Biden committed a high crime or misdemeanor. ‘We’ve got to have some kind of direct evidence of a crime that points to the President,’ Bacon tells TIME. ‘Or if the President doesn’t answer the subpoenas or provide the information that’s being requested, that would also be grounds for an inquiry.’” [TIME, 9/8/23]
4. You just spent a month plus in your district, do your constituents want Congress to focus on impeachment?
A new Public Policy Polling survey reveals that a majority of voters in the 18 key battleground districts (55%) think an impeachment inquiry would be more about helping Donald Trump than finding the truth, including 56% of independent voters, while just 41% think it would be more about finding the truth. Additionally, 56% think an impeachment inquiry would be more of a partisan political stunt, including 55% of independent voters, while only 41% think it would be more of a serious effort to investigate important problems.
5. Do you agree with Chairman Comer that congressional investigators have received everything they’ve requested?
Chairman Comer’s exact words: “every subpoena that I have signed, as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee over the last five months, we have gotten 100% of what we requested, whether it’s with the FBI or with the banks or with Treasury.” Then what is the justification for an impeachment inquiry?