Joe Biden's Impeachment Rests in Jim Jordan's Hands

House Republicans could vote on whether to impeach President Joe Biden over corruption allegations in the next few months, while the decision on pursuing impeachment articles will ultimately be made by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan.

Speaking to Fox News' Hannity show on Wednesday, Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said he is hoping for a vote "by early spring" on whether to launch hearings against Biden over allegations that he intervened and benefited from his son Hunter Biden's business dealings with China and Ukraine while he was vice president, including taking bribes.

The House Judiciary, Oversight, and Ways and Means committees have been leading the impeachment inquiry. The corruption claims have long been denied by the White House and Hunter Biden's lawyers, with Democrats also condemning the GOP for failing to reveal any evidence to back up their allegations against the president.

During his Fox News appearance, Comer claimed that his committee has produced "many smoking guns" regarding Biden's alleged corruption, and that the president has been "dishonest with the American people" about his family's business dealings. Comer also suggested there could be an impeachment vote by early spring in 2024.

"Well, certainly, that will be early spring," Comer said. "The sooner, the better. It just depends on when these people come in for their depositions and transcribed interviews. We have about 24 people that we want to hear from, and we're expecting to hear from them in the next 45 days.

"After we hear from them, hopefully, we're able to wrap up our job on the Oversight Committee, which is to investigate criminal wrongdoing and issue a report. Then we will hand it off to the Judiciary Committee."

Once the impeachment inquiry is complete, the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings and draft impeachment charges. If such articles are voted out of committee by a simple majority, which would be expected as the panel is GOP controlled, it would come to the House floor where a majority vote would be required to impeach Biden.

Comer has subpoenaed several members of the president's family, including Hunter Biden and his brother James Biden, as part of the GOP's investigation.

In a letter to Comer and Jordan, White House legal counsel Richard Sauber demanded the panels withdraw their subpoenas for the Biden family while condemning the probe.

"You appear so determined to impeach the president that you have misrepresented the facts, ignored the overwhelming evidence disproving your claims, and repeatedly shifted the rationale for your 'inquiry,'" Sauber wrote.

In early November, with a possible government shutdown looming, White House spokesman Ian Sams wrote a memo addressing the subpoenas, "With just over a week to go until House Republicans may again thrust the country into a harmful and chaotic government shutdown, the most extreme voices in their party like James Comer are trying to distract from their repeated failures to govern."

Sams added: "Instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan political smear campaign against the president and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs."

Speaking to Politico, Jordan said he is hoping to conduct a number of depositions in the impeachment hearings by the end of the year before the House Judiciary decides on whether to introduce any articles of impeachment against Biden.

"We get those depositions done this year and[...]then we can decide on whether or not there's articles," Jordan said.

Jordan's office has been contacted for further comment via email.

Hunter Biden has been directed to sit for a deposition on December 13, with James Biden currently scheduled for December 6.

Apart from concerns about the lack of meaningful evidence, another major issue for House Republicans hoping to impeach Biden is whether they will get the required support from the GOP in a vote on the floor.

Due to the the party's narrow 221-212 majority in the House, any article of impeachment against Biden brought to a vote would need the near-unanimous support of House Republicans, with every House Democrat all but certain to vote against a bid to impeach the president.

A number of moderate Republican figures have raised doubts about the impeachment hearing and the lack of evidence the panels have produced, potentially dashing hopes of any article getting the 218 votes needed in the House before it can be moved on to the Senate, where it would need a two-third majority for a conviction and possible removal from office.

"I think it's better to let the election solve this," Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon recently told CNN. "I know a lot of people say they want revenge. I don't think it's right for the country. But we'll see the case that they make."

Virginia Rep. Ben Cline, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said a vote on impeachment must take place soon to avoid accusations of it being politically motivated ahead of the 2024 election, where Biden is seeking a second term in the White House.

"We understand that the further you go toward an election, the more politicized these conversations become," Cline told Politico. "That's why it's all the more important for us to begin to take action sooner rather than later."