- House Republicans voted to formalize the impeachment inquiry they’ve been pursuing for months.
- Even Rep. Ken Buck, who has long opposed impeachment, voted for it.
- Biden-district Republicans also voted for it, with many saying it’s just about getting the facts.
The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to formalize its ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Though former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy first launched the inquiry in September, today’s vote grants a series of committees additional powers to pursue as-of-yet unproven allegations of corruption against Biden.
In a rare moment of unanimity for the House GOP, the vote broke down cleanly largely along party lines, with a 221-212 margin.
That included Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who had previously signaled that he would oppose the inquiry.
The House Freedom Caucus member, who recently announced that he would not seek re-election next year, has become something of a thorn in the side of his party in recent months — and not always for the same reason.
At the end of the summer, he began feuding with fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, in part over her dubious claims about January 6 defendants.
Weeks later, Buck was among the eight Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, arguing that the former speaker had broken promises that he’d made to the right flank of his conference.
Buck then refused to support Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for speaker, pointing to the Ohio congressman’s refusal to say whether or not Biden had won the 2020 election.
Amid rumors that Buck was looking to become a cable news contributor, the congressman told Business Insider in October that he was looking at “how to get on TV more, and how to be more relevant.”
Buck first laid out his opposition to the impeachment inquiry in a September op-ed for The Washington Post, where he wrote that his party was “relying on an imagined history,” particularly as it pertains to Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma.
“Without doubt, Hunter Biden’s shady business deals undermined America’s image and our anti-corruption goals, and his conduct was thoroughly reprehensible,” wrote Buck in the op-ed. “What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption.”
Buck was joined by plenty of the party’s most vulnerable members in voting for the inquiry — including those in districts that Biden won in 2020.
Many Republicans have argued that the vote was merely about getting more facts, though Democrats have expressed skepticism about that reasoning.
“Once you get on that train at the first stop, you’re pretty much going to take the whole ride,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said on Tuesday.
In a statement after the vote, Joe Biden said Republicans need to start to “take action on important priorities for the nation and world,” not “choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt.”
“I wake up every day focused on the issues facing the American people – real issues that impact their lives, and the strength and security of our country and the world,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, House Republicans are not joining me. Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies.
Update December 13, 2023: This story has been updated with President Biden’s response to the House’s impeachment inquiry vote.
