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facebook, it's facebook.com/cspan. you can call in now. this is the headlines from the washington times area speaker johnson moves ahead with impeachment inquiry vote. this was speaker johnson speaking on fox and friends over the weekend it has -- [video clip] >> has become a necessary vote. we were -- we decried that use of it. this is different. we are the rule of law team. we have to do it methodically. our three committees of jurisdiction have been doing an extraordinary job following the evidence where it leads. now we are being stonewalled by the white house, because they are preventing at least two to three doj witnesses coming forward. the national archives, the white house has withheld thousands of pages of evidence. a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us

to take it to the next step. host: speaker mike don's and get that is from fox and friends saturday. on sunday, the chairman of one of the committees leading the probe into joe biden and the biden family so far is james comer, the kentucky republican. he was speaking on fox news, also asked about a formal impeachment vote. [video clip] >> i do not understand why you have had to take so long to actually that a vote to impeach, get this impeachment inquiry going. do you feel you have the votes in the house right now to get a formal impeachment inquiry? >> i do. i had a reporter asked what has changed? because the press has been writing that we did not have the votes forever. one thing that changed as we were in washington, d.c. for 10 weeks and there were about 15 moderates who worried about what

cnn writes, and they were getting in their head. but a great thing happened during thanksgiving. the members went home, many of them for the first time, circulated for the first time in over 10 weeks. they met people in walmart and on main street, and they were like, what in the world have the bidens done to receive millions of dollars from our enemies around the world, and they did not pay taxes on it? they heard from their constituents. we want to know the truth, and we expect the bidens to be held accountable for public corruption. we are unified at a time when our conference is broken in a number of ways. the members heard from constituents back home. they have confidence in the credibility of our investigation and the mountain of evidence we have accumulated. host: congressman james comer, the chairman of the oversight committee, yesterday on fox news. also yesterday, robert garcia,

also a member of the oversight committee, a democrat from california, asking why republicans want to do this. [video clip] >> there is no evidence. we have made that clear over and over. all the evidence republicans tried to bring forward are essentially discredited rudy giuliani conspiracy theories. this is a tinfoil hat committee with zero evidence. host: asking you this morning on "washington journal," should the household a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the house floor? it is a tight margin between democrats and republicans right now, but speaker mike johnson says he has of the votes to formally authorize impeachment. these inquiries have been going on since some timbre here this would be a formal authorization, adding some legal have to behind some of these inquiries. (202) 748-8001 for republicans

to call in. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, it is (202) 748-8002. a few of your comments from social media already. this is a martin, writing in that the house did iea the guy erye -- this is steve saying absolutely. we have a corrupt, dishonest president. he has been living off political kickbacks for years. time to send him and his this functional family packing good one more from tom saying it would probably fail, though who cares? they keep embarrassing themselves on this issue anyway. if you have your comments in our facebook conversation already. you can also look for us on x and sent us a text as well, (202) 748-8003. or call, like jim did out of florida, republican. caller: are you ready for a scoop? host: go ahead.

caller: i think the republicans are going to do the democrats a favor. regardless of how many votes it takes in the congress to get this impeachment going, if democrats have to throw in extra votes, they will get it going, because they will want to have that and the leaders of the democratic party are going to go to the president and say, you should think about retiring, because your health and all of that. and really, you're becoming a drag on the party, and you need to retire. and if you don't, we are probably going to get enough votes for the impeachment from our side, from the democratic side, to impeach you, and i do not think you want to go out that way. i think they will use it as leverage against the president. the democrats are going to use as leverage against the president to get him to not run for another term.

i believe the republicans are going to help them in that matter. host: and you think another democratic candidate could beat the likely republican nominee? caller: i think it is pretty obvious that the democrats do not want biden to run for another term. this is their avenue to tell him, you know, we do not want to do this, but we have to. we are going to get enough votes, the 60 votes to impeach you. you don't want to be impeached, just retire, tell them you will not run again, and a lot of this will go away for you. they have a lot of things against you. it will melt like snow on a hot summer day. i believe that is what is going to happen. in a way, the republicans are doing the democrats a favor by impeaching him. and then the democrats are going to pick up on it, and they will go to him and say just retire.

and that way, there will not be any scandal on you, anything like that. because if you do not, i think for the betterment of the party, we will get the 60 votes to impeach you, so we can get another candidate. host: got your point here that is jim in florida. this is john out of florida, independent. good morning, you are up. caller: yeah, i think they should go on with the impeachment of biden. he has committed treason, in my eyes. being a vietnam combat that --vet -- being a vietnam combat vet and knowing his background, who he is listening to, obama -- key needs to go to prison. his son, his brother. anyone who receives money from foreign countries needs to go to prison, on both sides of the

aisle. this congress, on both sides, is destroying this country. gavin newsom buys chinese flags in san francisco. host: this is horace out of philadelphia, democrat. what are your thoughts about a formal vote on the house floor for impeachment? horace, are you with us? caller: yes, can you hear me? host: yes, sir. what do you think? caller: i think it is a doggone shame that the republicans ain't got nothing better to do then mess with a president who is doing his very best to take care of all kinds of situations, especially with the hamas and israeli war and stuff. and going off on this man who is

doing his best to take care of this country and foreign policy, and he has to worry about some foolish probably kids trying to impeachment -- impeach him because of donald trump, who was impeached twice. i think it is a waste of time, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves. you have a good day, my friend. host: that is horace. again, these impeachment probes by multiple house committees, the most high-profile one being the oversight committee, have been going on for months now. this would be a formal vote on the house floor to authorize these investigations. the wall street journal today with an explanation of what that would mean, why that would matter. they write impeachment infestations improve the likelihood that a court would authorize access to grand jury

materials and boost the chances of overcoming assertions of executive privilege, according to a 2019 report by the congressional research service. there is disagreement about whether a formal house vote is needed to authorize an impeachment probe. such a move helps remove legal ambiguity. the exultation from the wall street journal. from the white house from late last week, as this was being discussed, a memo on how much of the biden administration has cooperated with these impeachment inquiries. they call these inquiries a fishing expedition and illegitimate. they note how should republicans have thousands of pages of witness testimony. axios writing about what was in this memo, noting republicans had access to more than 35,000 pages of private financial records, murs of witness intervd

testimony, and documents, including highly sensitive materials, and witnesses from the fbi and the national archives. republicans saying it is not enough, and they believe this impeachment inquiry would shake loose, perhaps, more documents and perhaps more witnesses as well. getting your thoughts. should the household formal impeachment inquiry vote? mary jo out of maryland, what you think? caller: i think they are well warranted. biden has been corrupt his whole time in the government and in politics. lied, plagiarized, and he just gets away with it, so he keeps doing it. they can always find something and a way to prosecute donald trump, why is it so hard to do

with biden, with all he has done? host: this is gordon out of michigan, line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm on? host: yes, sir. what do you think? caller: this is a big circus, how this keeps going on, it is incredible. -- i listen to the man. once he said, you know, that was enough. the tapes on the bus, whatever -- what do i tell my daughter? when i told that two people, what do i tell my daughter after that incident -- this just goes on, it is a big circus. how can they have any credibility going forward if this is the evidence they are going to impeach someone? thank you very much. you guys do a great service. america, wake up.

host: dave out of maryland, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. this ignorant republican party, last time they tried to do this impeachment inquiry, their own speaker, kevin mccarthy, got fired. so now they're going to go back to waste some more time, and they do not realize that they are going to lose the house of representatives pretty soon. and even though they are in power, really, the democrats run the show. there is no reason to really go after the president. he is doing a good job, considering the circumstances. biden has publicly said he has come out to do his testimony. host: you think the reason that kevin mccarthy is no longer speaker is because of the impeachment inquiries? because some of those who are

most critical of him and leading the push to oust him from the speakership were saying he was not moving fast enough on impeachment. caller: you know, 24 hours before a shut down, he did not have the key leadership skills to say no, i will not do this and focus on avoiding the shutdown. yes. these ignorant republicans, that is what they are doing. again, wasting their time, instead of pushing the israel funding through, they -- we have serious issues that need to be dealt with. they will do this foolish circus, and they are not going to succeed. it is a mockery of politics. it is how ignorant and foolish they are. host: more discussion on impeachment from yesterday's

"meet the press." florida governor ron desantis being asked about it yesterday. [video clip] >> speaker mike johnson says he believes he has the votes to open an impeachment inquiry into president biden and that he has a duty to hold such a vote. do you think republicans run the risk of having that move potentially backfire and emboldening president biden as he heads into a reelection year, if they moved to impeach him? >> here's what i think. i think the biden family, the amount of money that has flowed into that family, to me, is corrupt. it has not been explained in ways that make any sense, so opening an inquiry based on the fact that we have i think would be justifiable. however, they run the risk of doing an inquiry that does not necessarily lead anywhere while they have been ignoring a lot of the problems that our voters are talking about. when i am going through iowa,

republican voters obviously are not fond about joe biden. yes, they are concerned about hunter and all this money. but they are more concerned about what is happening on our border. they are more concerned about what is happening with the economy. they are more concerned about federal agencies overstepping their bounds. if you are doing the inquiry, which, again, i think is justifiable, you also have to address all these other issues. there is a feeling out here they are not focused on the key issues they wanted to see addressed. clearly, on the budget, there has been no progress on that. make sure you're not ignoring all these other issues, and do not use that inquiry as kind of a trojan horse to not meet your responsibilities on all these other things. host: senator ron desantis on "meet the press" yesterday. back to your calls, asking should the household and impeachment inquiry vote on the house floor? this is betty, a republican in south carolina.

good morning. caller: yes, they should have him. look at all he has done. i do not see why all these people does not see -- like that man from pennsylvania. i do not understand him. they need to clean that whole -- he is supposed to be doing what we say, and he gets by with everything. i mean everything. i've never seen the like in my life. and just keep on letting him stay in there, and he will do more, and this world will come to an end, if he stays in there. host: this is leslie in north carolina, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. to that woman in south carolina,

i would say the same thing about trump. trump -- if trump is allowed to get back in there, he will take over. they keep going after joe biden, go after hunter biden. hunter said i will testify. with trump, he did not want to come testify. what you want from the democrats? joe biden has done a real good job. he has done a great job. inflation is down, the economy is doing well. as far as the border, both republicans and democrats have to come together on the border. i am a democrat, and i still have problems with immigration and how it is a mess. i just do not like i could ever vote republican because of donald trump.

i would vote -- host: does it say some thing about our politics today that the caller before you was talking end times if joe biden stays in office, and you are talking it is the end times for the world if donald trump comes back into office? caller: yes. yes, that is true. host: what does it say about the state of our politics, that it is and m times one way or the other? caller: the politics of america right now is in great peril, either democrats or republicans. because, like i say, if donald trump gets in, it is all about authoritarianism. he wants to be the one true leader of america. he has a whole family he has lined up, so when donald trump dies, his son will be his successor. we do not need a napoleon or hitler type of leader.

we do not need that in america. america was based on we will go four years and we will vote. if he gets back in there, it will go another four years, and that is the end of your term.