'Hungry for revenge': Republicans say Biden impeachment 'not good for the country'
As House Republicans charge full speed ahead with efforts to impeach President Joe Biden, other Republicans are expressing doubt that the process will yield dividends — and fear it could end up hurting the GOP more in November.
TIME magazine recently reported that the ongoing impeachment effort has so far produced "underwhelming" results after a year of House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer's (R-Kentucky) attempt to mine information about Biden's son, Hunter, with various subpoenas and hearings. While Comer's committee has obtained tens of thousands of pages of bank records and roughly 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports, the GOP has yet to unearth any findings tying President Biden to any illicit activity. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) even described the impeachment process as "failure theater."
According to one of TIME's sources, the goal may not to be to remove Biden from office for committing high crimes and misdemeanors, but to more simply give former President Donald Trump ammunition for his reelection campaign. Gunner Ramer, who is the political director of the anti-Trump group Republican Accountability Project, said impeachment "resonates with the base," adding that Republicans are "hungry for revenge."
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The political implications of a failed impeachment could haunt Republicans in the upcoming general election. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) held a full floor vote on authorizing the impeachment inquiry, putting numerous swing district Republicans on the record that may or may not endanger the House's razor-thin majority in November.
It's possible that even with the majority, Republicans may ultimately fail in their efforts to actually follow through on their impeachment threat. With former Rep. George Santos (R-New York) expelled from the body and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) officially retired, Johnson can only afford three defections from his caucus.
And even if House Republicans vote to impeach Biden, an impeachment trial in the Democratic-controlled US Senate would fall well short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict and remove Biden from office. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in August that impeachment "ought to be rare" and not deployed frivolously as a political weapon.
"This is not good for the country," McConnell said.
READ MORE: House Republican admits there's 'probably not' cause to impeach Biden but will vote for it anyway
Click here to read TIME's report in full.
