Speaker Johnson says he’s ‘confident’ impeachment inquiry resolution will pass

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he is “confident” the resolution to authorize the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden will pass when it hits the floor for a vote on Wednesday.

“I think it’s gonna pass,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

Johnson’s comments come hours before the House is set to vote on a resolution to authorize the Republican conference’s months-long, multi-faceted impeachment inquiry into Biden.

The legislation is scheduled to hit the floor Wednesday afternoon after the House Rules Committee advanced it on Tuesday.

Then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opened the impeachment inquiry on his own accord in September, opting against holding a formal vote to begin the process. But now, as the probe enters a more combative phase — which includes working to execute subpoenas and land high-profile witnesses — Johnson is staging a vote to put more legal weight behind the inquiry.

The vote also follows criticism from the White House that the inquiry is not legitimate because it has not been established through a formal House vote.

The impeachment inquiry is digging into hotly disputed allegations about whether Biden improperly benefited from or used policy to benefit the foreign business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden, and other family members, as well as allegations that the Department of Justice improperly slow-walked a tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden. The president and the White House have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said that Biden was not involved in his family’s business dealings.

Hunter Biden was scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition on Wednesday after receiving a subpoena for the inquiry but he declined to appear, reiterating his request that he sit for a public hearing rather than a private deposition. Instead, the younger Biden instead delivered a statement outside the Capitol Wednesday morning that slammed the GOP’s investigation and reiterated his father was not involved in his business dealings.

“Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business — Not as a practicing lawyer. Not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not my investment at all nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist,” Hunter Biden said.

Shortly after, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced that they would initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against Hunter Biden.

“Hunter Biden today defied lawful subpoenas and we will now initiate contempt of Congress proceedings,” the pair wrote in a statement. “We will not provide special treatment because his last name is Biden.”

“Today’s obstruction by Hunter Biden reinforces the need for a formal vote,” they later added.

Johnson on Wednesday declined to comment on the younger Biden’s comments or the move towards contempt of Congress proceedings, telling reporters that he had been in meetings and was not privy to the recent developments.

But he did say the House would move forward with the vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry regardless of recent events.

“We are,” he said. “It’s called for and it’s appropriate and I think it’ll pass.”

Updated at 1:14 p.m.