House Republicans know that their rapidly shrinking majority—and their lack of evidence—has put them in an impossible position.
Despite drumbeating for more than a year to impeach Joe Biden, House Republicans have quietly begun looking for an off-ramp in the face of an overwhelming lack of evidence against the president—and a rapidly shrinking majority in the chamber.
Republicans have accused Biden and his son Hunter of corruption and influence peddling, but their lengthy investigation has failed to turn up any proof of the president’s wrongdoing. In fact, the biggest criminal act revealed during the course of the probe was committed by the GOP’s own star witness, Alexander Smirnov. The Department of Justice has accused him of making up the allegations against the Biden family that jump-started the whole impeachment effort.
As the investigation crumbles, Republicans are starting to sour on it entirely. “I don’t think we have the will to impeach Joe Biden,” Texas Representative Troy Nehls told Fox News on Tuesday. “We just don’t.”
Doesn’t matter. They beat the drums long enough for their followers to screech “What about Hunter Biden?!” Any time Democrats try to bring up impeachment for actual crimes. Mission successful.
Now it doesn’t matter how it ends, as long as it ends quietly enough that faux news can not report on it.
And this is exactly why they’re trying to hit the Abort button now. A total lack of impeachment headlines is easy for republicans to hide behind a circus. If it never goes to a vote, then conservatives can’t be raked across the coals for failing. But “impeachment vote fails” is much much harder to hide, and the double-jeopardy rule could potentially prevent them from trying again in the future, (though that part is untested, since it hasn’t actually happened before. Some argue that they could still try again because double jeopardy only applies to criminal trials.)