GOP lawmaker who backed impeachment inquiry admits he’s seen no evidence of ‘high crime or misdemeanor’

Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) said Wednesday that he has yet to see any evidence to support the accusations against President Biden, despite voting to formalize the impeachment inquiry into him earlier that day. 

“The process has been abused,” Joyce said in an interview with NewsNation’s Dan Abrams. “It’s meant to take out mentally deficient folks, somebody who’s lost their mind while they’re in office, or somebody who’s a [former Rep. George] Santos, like where they’ve committed in crimes while they’re in office.”

“And you know, I don’t see that yet, but the opportunity for the, for the, operative committees to gather the information and present it in an orderly fashion, so people can make rational decisions is what I base my decision on,” he continued during the appearance on “Dan Abrams Live.”

House Republicans formalized their impeachment inquiry into Biden with a party-line vote Wednesday after months of investigating Biden and his family’s business dealings. When pressed further on what specific crimes Republicans are investigating Biden for, Joyce had no answer.

“And as a former prosecutor, what exactly is the high crime or misdemeanor that’s being investigated?” Abrams asked Joyce. 

“Well, yeah, that’s a good point. And I haven’t seen any of that today, but I’m looking forward to the investigative committees. … I have three different committees that are all focused on this —OK, put up or shut up. You either have the evidence or you don’t,” Joyce responded.

The House GOP moved to formalize the inquiry partly due to the White House’s response to document requests last month; the White House argued the House GOP inquiry was unconstitutional due to the process not being formalized.

Joyce noted that one of the reasons he was swayed to vote for the impeachment inquiry was to get the White House to turn over the documents the House committees requested last month.

“But if they want to play the game and go through the process, then obviously we need to go through the process,” he said. “But at the end of the day, this isn’t impeachment. This is just the inquiry. It’s no different than asking for a subpoena.”

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.