Facing the prospect that they may never succeed in impeaching President Biden, House Republicans are exploring a pivot to a different strategy: issuing criminal charges against him and those close to him.
In recent weeks, a political and factual reality has emerged on Capitol Hill. Despite their subpoenas and testimony, Republicans in the House have failed to produce substantial evidence of Mr. Biden’s wrongdoing and lack the votes within their own party to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors, the constitutional standard for impeachment.
Instead, top Republican lawmakers have begun developing strategies for filing criminal charges against Mr. Biden, members of his family and his associates, essentially sending letters to the Justice Department asking prosecutors to investigate specific crimes which they believe to have been committed.
The move would be largely symbolic, but it would allow Republicans in Congress to save face while ending their so far troubled impeachment inquiry. It has the added appeal for Republicans of joining former President Donald J. Trump’s promise to prosecute Mr. Biden if he wins the election.
And it would prevent a repeat of the humiliating process that House Republicans, who hold a tiny and dwindling majority, went through last month with the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. After initially failing to impeach Mr. Mayorkas, Republicans had little success on their second attempt, only to realize that the Democratic-controlled Senate was poised to quickly acquit him — or even dismiss the charges without a trial.
“I haven’t heard anything in the last few weeks that suggests we have anywhere near the votes to impeach,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota Republican and author of the resolution authorizing the impeachment inquiry.
Mr Armstrong said he believed a criminal referral was the much more likely outcome. Mr. Armstrong suggested that House Republicans could submit notices of alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act related to international business deals by Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and suggested that the Justice Department investigate allegations of obstruction.
“I’m still curious as to why we haven’t had better answers about the whole-of-government approach to obstructing all of these investigations,” Mr Armstrong said.
Republicans say they are not yet finished with their investigation and could still change course and opt for an impeachment vote. They have scheduled a public hearing next week with former business associates of Hunter Biden, although Mr. Biden himself has refused to appear.
In an interview, Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he was also demanding audio recordings of President Biden that were part of Robert K. Hur’s special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents.
Felony referrals, Mr. Jordan said, were among the options “on the table” as the House GOP moves forward.
Rep. James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the Oversight Committee, has repeatedly suggested in recent weeks that issuing criminal charges could mark the end of the impeachment inquiry rather than an impeachment vote.
“At the end of the day, what does responsibility look like? It looks like a criminal transfer. “It looks like they’re referring people to the Justice Department,” Mr. Comer said in a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “If Merrick Garland’s Justice Department doesn’t take potential criminal charges seriously, perhaps the next president will with a new attorney general.”
The shift toward investigating criminal tips came after Mr. Comer had a chance meeting with Mr. Trump in Florida last month, his aides say. A spokeswoman for Mr. Comer did not comment on what was discussed, but said that the chairman unexpectedly met Mr. Trump at lunch with Vernon Hill, a banker who has donated to Mr. Trump’s campaigns, and they met briefly 10- Minute conversation.
The possible change in strategy also comes because Republicans have lost seats in the House of Representatives, making impeachment all the more unlikely. With the departure next week of Rep. Ken Buck, Republican of Colorado, the party will have just 218 votes in the House, a narrow majority of the 435 members.
On Thursday, spokesman Mike Johnson confirmed that Republican leaders discussed the possibility of criminal referrals.
In a brief interview at the Capitol, he made it clear that impeaching President Biden was not his top priority at the moment, saying he was “a little preoccupied with appropriations.” But he said House leadership would consider whether to issue criminal referrals.
“More thought needs to be given to this – that’s for sure,” he said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and a close ally of President Trump, was among those who advocated for House Republicans to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Biden and his family members.
“He deserves it,” Mr. Gaetz said of Mr. Biden.
Mr. Gaetz added that it was clear that Republicans did not have the votes for impeachment.
“I don’t think there are enough Republicans who support the view that a bribe can occur through a payment to a family member,” said Mr. Gaetz, who has claimed that Hunter Biden’s earnings from foreign companies were little more than a bribery scheme. But he added that if Mr. Trump wins the election, he could install new staff at the top of the Justice Department who could pursue prosecutions based on Republican recommendations.
“The DOJ is about to change hands,” Mr. Gaetz said. “It’s about to get new management.”
For Republicans in the House of Representatives, a criminal prosecution would be a politically easier step than impeachment. They do not require a congressional vote nor do they have any legal weight. Mr. Comer could simply write a letter outlining the allegations.
The Democratic-led House Select Committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 made big headlines in the last Congress with its criminal charges against Mr. Trump. (He was later charged by the Justice Department with crimes related to the plot to overturn the 2020 election.)
Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Panel on Weaponizing the Government, said Republicans were simply trying to salvage a failed investigation. Republicans suffered a blow when one of the key pieces of evidence they cited was discredited by the Justice Department.
“They realize they don’t have the votes to impeach because they don’t have the evidence,” Ms. Plaskett said. “But they recognize that if there is a criminal referral, it will take time to reach the Justice Department, giving them additional fodder during the election cycle. They’re just trying to create some sort of false equivalence between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that doesn’t exist.”
Even some Republicans said a referral against Mr. Biden might not make sense, citing the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
“We do not expel a sitting president on criminal charges,” said Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California. He added that Republicans could refer the president’s family members based on the evidence they uncovered, “but most of what we found out they already knew.”
Rep. Clay Higgins, Republican of Louisiana, who took part in the closed-door deposition against Hunter Biden as a member of the oversight committee, said he believes the investigation “clearly” crossed the threshold of reasonable suspicion about the Biden family. but have not yet done so found “probable cause” that the president had committed a crime.
“If our investigation determines that impeachment is not a righteous endeavor, it may be a criminal referral,” Higgins said.
But Mr. Higgins also suggested that House Republicans could simply let voters decide.
“It’s a much harder path to impeachment. So I would say that no matter what the Oversight Committee does, the American people will have the opportunity to make a decision in November.”
Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
Source link
2024-03-14 09:08:34
www.nytimes.com