<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty</p>
<p>We have to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-biden-should-hope-the-gop-votes-to-impeach-him">impeach Joe Biden</a> before we can find out whether he’s worthy of impeachment. That’s my interpretation, at least, of the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-republicans-dive-headfirst-into-joe-biden-impeachment-inquiryelections-be-damned">House Republicans’ decision to vote for an impeachment inquiry</a> on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The operative word is <em>inquiry</em>. Still, this smells like a fishing expedition—that is to say, an investigation in search of a crime. There is no direct evidence that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/joe-biden">Biden</a> is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” On this, even <a href="https://themessenger.com/politics/some-house-republicans-admit-there-is-no-evidence-to-impeach-biden">some House Republicans agree</a>. And yet, even Republicans who warned about “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/did-any-republicans-vote-against-biden-impeachment-inquiry-1852207">retribution politics</a>” still voted to support the probe.</p>
<p>They were persuaded to do so because, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/us/politics/biden-impeachment-inquiry-house-vote.html"><em>The New York Times</em> notes</a>, “The impeachment inquiry resolution does not accuse Mr. Biden of any wrongdoing.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/gops-impeachment-inquiry-into-joe-biden-is-a-cynical-gamble">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
The operative word is inquiry. Still, this smells like a fishing expedition—that is to say, an investigation in search of a crime. There is no direct evidence that Biden is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” On this, even some House Republicans agree. And yet, even Republicans who warned about “retribution politics” still voted to support the probe.
They were persuaded to do so because, as The New York Times notes, “The impeachment inquiry resolution does not accuse Mr. Biden of any wrongdoing.”
