As House moves forward with Biden impeachment inquiry, Tim Burchett will have a role
The House Oversight Committee has announced its first impeachment hearing into President Joe Biden's involvement in his son's business deals will be held Sept. 28.
U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican who represents Knoxville, serves on the committee and told Knox News he supports the effort.
"If we get enough information and evidence, then we'll move ahead with the inquiry," he said last week.
Burchett said he wants the committee to bring in Hunter Biden to speak under oath about his father's involvement in his business deals.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched the inquiry without a vote from House members, which drew some criticism. Burchett doesn't see a problem with it, though.
"It just says, 'We're going to research this thing,'" he said, adding that the swift action prevents a "produced situation, like the Jan. 6th Committee."
That committee for months investigated former President Donald Trump's involvement in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. It came to the conclusion that Trump coordinated a "conspiracy" that the 2020 election results were fake, and recommended that the Justice Department prosecute Trump.
The inquiry lasted a year and a half. Burchett said Biden's impeachment will be smoother.
"I've talked to (Oversight Committee Chairman James) Comer and Speaker McCarthy and I've told them, 'This doesn't need to be some drawn out thing,'" he said. "If we don't have the votes, we don't have the votes."
And he isn't positive they'll get the votes in the long run to send it to the Senate.
Republicans are pursuing impeachment based on claims that Biden and his son, Hunter, engaged in an influence peddling scheme and that Hunter Biden used his father's influence in foreign business deals and in his federal investigation.
What the rest of East Tennessee's delegation and our senators say
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Chattanooga, whose district includes Anderson County, said Americans deserve more transparency and answers.
"I completely support Speaker McCarthy's decision to open a formal impeachment inquiry," he said in a statement. "Our founders created a system of checks and balances so no president is above the law. ...The House Republican majority will get (answers)."
When a then-Democratic House majority initiated an inquiry against Trump in 2019, Fleischmann called it a "sham." He voted not to impeach Trump that year and in 2021.
U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, who represents northeast Tennessee, said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the inquiry has her full support: "I look forward to holding him accountable for selling out our country."
As for Tennessee's GOP senators, Marsha Blackburn said she will vote to convict the president if the House sends articles to the Senate.
"Joe Biden is one of the most corrupt presidents in American history," she wrote Sept. 12 on X.
Sen. Bill Hagerty hasn't released a statement on the inquiry and did not respond to Knox News' request for comment.
Blackburn was in office during Trump's first impeachment trial and voted not to convict. Both senators voted not to convict Trump in his second impeachment hearing.