Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is threatening to force a vote on impeaching President Joe Biden if House GOP leaders don’t move quickly on charging the president with high crimes and misdemeanors.
In a closed-door meeting with GOP leaders on Tuesday, Greene pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to move forward with efforts to hold Biden accountable for the border crisis, telling lawmakers she would consider a privileged resolution on her own if he did not. Doing so would allow Greene to force leadership to schedule a vote on her articles of impeachment within two legislative days.
“I told the speaker that all the things he’s promising like legislative action to stop this weaponized government and the war against our party, I told him that none of it means anything unless he’s willing to pay for it,” Greene said. “Unless he’s willing to go and fight for legislative action that we actually take and pass in the House, it means nothing. And that’s how the people see it. They’re sick of the empty promises.”
It’s not clear when Greene could move forward with a privileged resolution to impeach Biden, although the Georgia Republican told reporters on Tuesday that she and her staff members plan to meet with Johnson’s office as early as this week.
Johnson said he hasn’t spoken with Greene about her efforts but argued lawmakers should allow the impeachment inquiry being led by the House Oversight Committee to dictate a path forward. That inquiry focuses on three main things, all of which relate to Hunter Biden: whether Joe Biden improperly used his position of power to enrich himself and his family, whether he used his influence to pressure the Department of Justice to help his son avoid criminal charges, and how involved he was in his family’s foreign business dealings.
That inquiry, Johnson said, could uncover “impeachable offenses,” but he noted he did not want to get ahead of the committee’s findings.
“I think President Biden is the worst president in the history of the country,” Johnson said. “There’s investigation processes going about … and the process continues. So, I’m not committing to anything on that this morning. We have to let the constitutional process and our constitutional responsibilities play out.”
Greene’s resolution would focus more on Joe Biden’s border policies, which would likely present more narrow charges against the president. She filed articles of impeachment a year ago against the president for the border crisis and “endangering the security of the United States.” The new resolution Greene would put forward would align with articles she authored against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last year that accused the Biden administration official of mishandling the situation at the southern border.
The threat comes as Joe Biden prepares to sign an executive order on Tuesday that would shut down asylum requests at the southern border once the seven-day average of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents between the ports of entry is above 2,500 arrests per day. The ban would be walked back once the average dropped to below 1,500 apprehensions daily, according to administration officials.
Republicans have criticized the plan as being too little, too late, accusing the Biden administration of intentionally opening the border to cause a crisis.
“They did it intentionally. They engineered the open border. There’s no question about it. The evidence is so clear,” Johnson said. “Now he wants to issue some weak executive order — one, by the way. One executive order supposedly to try to address the issue. It’s window dressing.”
It’s not clear how soon Greene could call a possible privileged resolution to the floor, as the House is scheduled to adjourn for a weekend recess on Wednesday afternoon and not return until Tuesday. However, even if it is brought forward, GOP leadership could move to table the legislation as it did last summer when Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) forced a vote on similar articles of impeachment.
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This isn’t the first time Greene has threatened to go rogue and buck party leaders to advance her own measure. Just last year, Greene filed a privileged impeachment resolution against Mayorkas to circumvent leadership before Johnson agreed to move forward with an inquiry instead, ending in his impeachment.
Most recently, Greene defied party leadership to advance a motion to vacate against Johnson himself, a move rejected by Republicans and Democrats.
