The GOP’s Path to a Biden Impeachment – or Fodder for ’24

House Republicans voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this week, successfully corralling once-skeptical moderate members of the GOP to support the move – billed as a harmless inquiry, and not an indictment.

But the House GOP now faces an even tougher challenge – finding impeachable evidence of wrongdoing that a year-long investigation has yet to turn up, and getting the members from the conference's most moderate districts behind it.

For now, the vote changes very little. The authority extends until the expiration of the current Congress in January 2025. But it almost certainly cements the investigation and possible impeachment effort as central to the GOP’s 2024 strategy, as Trump and Biden gear up for a likely rematch in November.

With the House’s backing, GOP investigators now wield more legal standing as they seek to gain key testimony and compliance with subpoenas issued in recent weeks. The vote increases the likelihood that Biden’s family members or Justice Department lawyers will be successfully compelled to testify before House investigators. And if they don’t comply, it’s likely to bring up a legal battle.

GOP House leadership said in a statement after the fact that the vote “puts us in the strongest position to enforce these subpoenas in court.”