White House Counsel Announces Conclusion of House Republican Impeachment Probe to Representative Mike Johnson

 White House lawyer Edward Siskel urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to officially close the impeachment probe into President Joe Biden Friday in a strongly worded letter declaring the allegations against the president were “disproven time and time again”—a demand that comes as Republicans have begun to publicly acknowledge the probe appears dead.

 Siskel’s letter cites a litany of statements from Republicans in recent weeks casting doubt on the merits of the evidence and expressing fatigue with the lengthy probe—including Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who cited his frustration with the impeachment inquiry in announcing his resignation from Congress this week.

Buck, who has said repeatedly the allegations against the president don’t rise to the level of impeachment, accused his colleagues of having “taken impeachment and made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept,” while explaining his decision to reporters.

Republicans “can not find any policy or governing decisions that were supposedly improperly influenced,” Siskel wrote in the letter, citing more than a dozen witnesses linked to the president or his son, Hunter Biden, who testified that the president had no involvement in his son, or any other family members’, business dealings.

Siskel also referenced the credibility issues associated with several key witnesses who made some of the most damning claims against he president, including Alexander Smirnov, who was charged last month with lying to the FBI about a bribery allegation against the president and his son—widely viewed as a critical breaking point in the impeachment probe.

Siskel also disparaged Republicans’ attempt to link Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents to the impeachment probe, calling it “a floatation device for the sinking impeachment effort.”

“Enough is enough. It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker. The impeachment is over,” Siskel wrote, urging the House to instead focus on “important priorities like funding our ally Ukraine and passing bipartisan border security measures.”

The GOP-controlled House voted to formalize the impeachment probe into the president in December in an effort to empower the committees handling the investigation to seek more evidence and witness testimony. The investigation largely centers around Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and whether the president used his authority to improperly aid his son or other family members financially. Republicans have published hundreds of thousands of pages of financial documents collected from Hunter Biden, other Biden family members and their business associates, and interviewed dozens of witnesses, while publicly suggesting their findings indicate impropriety on the president’s part. None of the evidence has shown Biden had any direct involvement in his family members’ professional ventures and the president has repeatedly denied the claims.

Hur appeared before a Congressional committee Tuesday over his report, and defended his decision not to bring criminal charges against Biden for storing classified documents at his home and personal office. Hur told the committee he did not “exonerate” the president, but determined the charges would not stand before a jury, in part, because Biden could portray himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Republicans have floated alternatives to formally impeaching Biden as it appears the probe is reaching an end point. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who has spearheaded the investigation as Oversight Committee chair, has said the House is considering legislative reforms, including stricter financial disclosure and foreign lobbying laws. He has also floated making criminal referrals to the Justice Department.