By Taylor Penley Fox News Published October 29, 2023 1:35pm EDT
The newly-appointed speaker said House Republicans have a 'constitutional responsibility' to follow the truth where it leads
Newly-appointed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled a promising future for the impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Sunday, nodding to what he called House Republicans' "constitutional responsibility" to follow the truth where it leads.
"We're the rule of law team. We don't use this for political partisan games like the Democrats have done and did against Donald Trump twice. We are going to follow the law and follow the Constitution, and I think we have a suspicion of where that may lead, but we're going to let the evidence speak for itself," he told FOX News' Maria Bartiromo.
"I look forward to rolling that out over the coming days and weeks and letting the American people see exactly why we're taking the next steps and where it's headed."
SPEAKER JOHNSON: BIDEN ENGAGING IN ‘COVER-UP’ OF ROLE IN HUNTER BUSINESS DEALINGS, IMPEACHMENT PROBE CONTINUES
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) listens during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the U.S. Capitol October 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Responding to whether House Republicans plan to subpoena Hunter Biden during the investigation, Johnson said he is looking at the option, but a decision hasn't been made just yet.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Bartiromo in September that the president's son would be subpoenaed, but only when the time is right.
"The one thing the American public has to understand is there's a strategy behind everything. We only follow facts. Hunter Biden will get subpoenaed, but when's the appropriate time? Do you do it because television wants it, or do you do it around the facts and the timing?" he said at the time.
McCarthy specifically stated that bank records would be needed in order to know which questions to ask Hunter, adding, "To just subpoena Hunter Biden because you want to fundraise, or you want to do something… that's not how we're going to run an investigation."
HOUSE GOP TO PRESENT EVIDENCE AGAINST BIDEN IN FIRST IMPEACHMENT HEARING
Hunter Biden, along with his father, remains under scrutiny from Republicans for allegedly engaging in shady business dealings. (Getty images)
Johnson said Sunday that House Republicans are working on putting together evidence as they have done, and the work is far from over.
"We're trying to move forward on some of this very aggressively. I think the American people are owed these answers," he said.
"And I think our suspicions about all this, the evidence that we've gathered so far is affirming what many of us feared maybe the worst… As Jamie Comer likes to say, 'Bank records don't lie.' We already have a lot of this evidence. The dots are being connected, and we'll see where it leads."
COMER SUBPOENAS PERSONAL, BUSINESS BANK RECORDS FOR HUNTER BIDEN, JAMES BIDEN AS PART OF IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY
Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, speaks after becoming US House speaker in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The new House Speaker also discussed support for Israel, antisemitism erupting on college campuses across the U.S. and government spending, including the November 17 budget deadline, suggesting he would be open to a short-term stopgap funding measure through Jan 15.
"I've talked to my colleagues about this in the speaker's race. I mentioned that I would favor, as for purposes of discussion to build consensus around, if there indeed has to be a stopgap funding measure, that we would do that until January 15. And the reason for that is it gets us beyond to the end of the year push," he said.
"And oftentimes, the Senate tries to jam the House and force an omnibus spending bill," he continued. "We’re not doing that here anymore, we’re having single subject bills in our separate appropriations bills and so pushing that into January I think would assist us in that endeavor."
