Jim Jordan Pours Cold Water on GOP Push to Impeach Biden

Ohio Representative Jim Jordan said that while there is a Republican push to gather facts to impeach President Joe Biden, the party is not currently focused on that issue.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, has attempted to get records from the FBI that believes could reveal whether Biden allegedly received bribes from a foreign national in return for an influence on policy decisions when he was vice president during the Obama administration, according to Punchbowl News. Comer is basing his allegation on information he received from an anonymous whistleblower.

Some Republicans who are strongly critical of the Biden administration have been eagerly waiting for a chance to impeach the president, including Jordan, whose House Judiciary Committee would oversee the impeachment if it moves forward. However, Jordan is being careful in approaching allegations against Biden, saying that his party's move towards impeachment is just "to get the facts."

"You think about [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas, he certainly warrants impeachment, but that's a decision we have to make as a conference...And relative to the president, of course, that's a decision that's going to be made by the full Republican Conference and the speaker, and no one's really focused on that now," he told Punchbowl News.

Some GOP members including Comer have called for impeaching Mayorkas over issues at the U.S.-Mexico border, even though Democrats argued that disagreements over border policies don't warrant impeachment.

The FBI document that Comer claims would back his accusation might be hard to obtain, but he can try to convince the whistleblower to testify before Congress.

Comer and GOP Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said in a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday that they received "legally protected and highly credible unclassified" information from the whistleblower.

"Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possess an unclassified FD-1023 form that describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. It has been alleged that the document includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose," the letter read.

Both Republicans claimed that the DOJ and the FBI would have enough information to determine the accuracy and credibility of the information in the document.

"The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people," the letter continued. "Therefore, Congress will proceed to conduct an independent and objective review of this matter, free from those agencies' influence."

Grassley, who doesn't have subpoena power to receive the documents, told Punchbowl News on Wednesday that the whistleblower wouldn't provide any further information about the source of the allegation against Biden when he approached the Republican's office.

Newsweek reached out to the press offices of Representative Jim Jordan and Senator Chuck Grassley via email for comment.

Meanwhile, the White House denied the accusation, with Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations tweeting on Wednesday, "Innuendo and insinuation masquerading as investigation."

In another tweet, Sams wrote: "For going on 5 years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically-motivated attacks against @POTUS without offering evidence for their claims. Or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests. They prefer trafficking in innuendo."

Following the same motive of targeting Biden, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed on Wednesday that she now has "evidence" to prove the president's alleged crimes after introducing several unsuccessful articles of impeachment against Biden since his inauguration in January 2021.

The congresswoman published a "breaking news" video on her Twitter account on Wednesday, in which she said that the GOP House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will investigate Biden's potential pay-for-play with foreign nationals to influence policy decisions as vice president.

Greene said the House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Christopher Wray, the FBI director, for a document, FD-1023, that allegedly contains "proof and information that Joe Biden, as Vice President of the United States, actually interacted with a foreign national and made a deal with a foreign national in exchange for money."