“With the passage of my impeachment bill later today, the House is taking historic action. For the first time in 24 years, a House Republican-led majority is moving forward with impeachment proceedings against a current president,” Boebert reported Thursday and spoke slamming Democrat Joe Biden over immigration and national security, accusing him of “making a mockery of the rule of law”:
Fox News correspondent Chad Pergam reported on the details, that made it sound like Boeberts efforts were fruitless:
User’s Manual to how McCarthy will sideline Boebert’s effort to impeach Biden today House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has short-circuited an effort by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to impeach President Biden today. The House won’t vote on Boebert’s impeachment plan today.
Instead, the House will vote on a gambit to send Boebert’s articles of impeachment to the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees for further investigation. This avoids a straightforward up/down vote on impeachment for the President.
It also prevents Democrats from trying to table or kill the impeachment articles. McCarthy called Boebert’s effort to circumvent committees for something as serious as impeachment “flippant.”
Boebert also refused to present her plan to a meeting of all House Republicans, telling Fox it was a waste of time. Impeachment is typically the province of the Judiciary Committee.
The Homeland Security panel deals with the border – which is why Boebert wants to impeach the President. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) has wanted to do investigations about the border.
But he has typically punted impeachment questions to the Judiciary panel. McCarthy’s gambit helps shield GOP members from voting to table the impeachment resolution – and then get torched by the right at home.
This enables Republican members who don’t like how Boebert initially circumvented the committee process or oppose impeachment to take a fig leaf vote which helps them back home.
GOP members are then not on the record voting to sidestep impeachment. They simply have voted to send Boebert’s resolution to committees for further investigation.
Boebert appeared on the War Room, on Wednesday, and discussed her plans with host Steve Bannon, telling him that “Leadership” Kevin McCarthy was no supporting her:
Here is how the AP covered it:
A surprise effort by hard-right House Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden has been sidelined for now, but the ability of GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert to force the issue to a House vote demonstrates the ever-escalating challenge Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces in controlling his Republican majority.
The impeachment resolution, which charges Biden with “high crimes and misdemeanors” over his handling of the U.S. border with Mexico, angered GOP colleagues who were caught off guard by the unscripted move. Even though it was not expected to pass Thursday, the vote would have been politically tough for GOP lawmakers and a potentially embarrassing spectacle for McCarthy, splitting his party.
Instead, McCarthy negotiated a deal with Boebert, the Colorado Republican, to send the Biden impeachment resolution for review to the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, fending off a vote for some time.
Impeachment is, however, popular with Republicans.