Republican congressman says Biden impeachment unlikely but highlighting inquiry will continue ahead of election
By Aaron Pellish and Haley Talbot, CNN
GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said Thursday he doesn’t believe impeaching President Joe Biden is likely given House Republicans’ slim majority, but he and other conservative members will continue to push claims of Biden’s wrongdoing to force Biden to “explain this to the people that he wants to vote for him.”
Perry told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland on Thursday he doesn’t think House Republicans will have enough votes to impeach Biden but plans to continue to “bring this information out” to influence public opinion ahead of November’s election.
“I don’t think we are going to get to a point quite honestly where we are going to be able to impeach him, especially with the thin margin that we have,” Perry said. “But we’re going to continue right up until the end of the term to bring this information out and to inform the American people that if Joe Biden wants to run for office again, have him explain this to the people that he wants to vote for him.”
Perry’s comments come after the Justice Department charged a former FBI informant with lying about Biden and his son Hunter’s involvement in business dealings with a Ukrainian energy company, allegations that Republicans used as the primary basis for an impeachment inquiry against Biden.
House Oversight Committee Republicans have deleted reference to the indicted ex-FBI informant from their summary of their impeachment inquiry on their website, the latest example of how Republicans are trying to downplay the significance of the former informant whose claims they once championed.
Perry stood by the evidence Republicans have previously pointed to as grounds for impeaching Biden, and blamed federal agencies for restricting access to information he says could verify their claims.
“The Biden family is stymieing us as much as possible, thwarting us at every effort,” Perry said. “You can see all the information that you’ve already seen, the evidence is pretty clear.”
On Wednesday, the impeachment inquiry conducted an eight-hour interview with the president’s brother James Biden, and the investigation is slated to hold a similar deposition with Hunter Biden next week.
Retiring Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, chairman of the powerful Financial Services Committee, predicted there is “less than a 50%” chance impeachment articles against Biden get a floor vote in the House.
McHenry, appearing on “The Takeout with Major Garrett” podcast from CBS News, said that “at this point” he has not seen sufficient evidence to support the impeachment. He added “who knows” if it would pass on the House floor if given a shot and referenced the initial failed impeachment vote of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, slamming Speaker Johnson’s decision to bring it to the floor without an accurate vote count.
CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
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