Republicans refuse to include written commitment for transparency in formal Biden inquiry

House Republicans have insisted for months that they want their impeachment inquiry of President Biden to be “open and transparent” but deliberately deleted language mandating such from the formal impeachment resolution—and voted against an amendment by Democrats to include it.

Republicans have been investigating the President and his family for virtually all of 2023 and have repeatedly boasted of receiving full cooperation from the White House for subpoenaed evidence. Yet now they inexplicably insist a formal impeachment inquiry is necessary because Biden is “stonewalling” their efforts.

Enter the Rules Committee, in which the resolution to formalize the inquiry announced by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy back in September would be introduced, debated, and passed by a Republican majority.

In the hearing, Republicans insisted they duplicated the template and standards established by Democrats for their two impeachments of Donald Trump—but Democrats noted at least one major exception (besides the lack of compelling evidence).

Republicans deliberately removed language in the resolution dictating the inquiry be “open and transparent” as well as language requiring them to provide a public report at the conclusion of the inquiry.

When Democrats pointed this out and offered an amendment to correct, Republican excuses included: the language was “too wordy” for the resolution; revisionist history that Democrats concealed the Trump inquiries from the public (not true); and appeals to “trust” the three Republican chairmen leading the inquiry to be transparent.

After spirited debate, the amendment was proposed and unanimously opposed by Republicans, leaving the inquiry’s openness and transparency entirely up to Republican discretion.