Mike Johnson wins House speakership
FOX News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest on the new leader on 'Special Report.'
EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Biden is engaged in an "ongoing cover-up" and has "lied repeatedly" about his involvement in and knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, while telling Fox News Digital that the impeachment inquiry against him will continue "methodically" and without a "predetermined" outcome.
Johnson, R-La., was elected speaker of the House of Representatives this week. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., launched the impeachment inquiry against Biden in September.
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)
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Friday evening, the speaker said the inquiry will continue under his leadership.
"We are the rule of law team, and so we have to respect and regard due process and do this in a way that the founders would have intended," he said. "Impeachment is an awesome power that Congress has, and it is not intended to be, nor should it be, used as a political tool to be wielded lightly."
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Johnson added, "We take this very seriously."
The speaker said House Republicans will continue investigating, "collecting evidence and following the truth and that evidence wherever it leads."
"We’ve not predetermined the outcome of this. We’ve not pre-judged it," he said. "But I think everyone can see how it is unfolding," he added.
Johnson, a constitutional lawyer and former member of the House Judiciary Committee and House Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, has been involved in the impeachment investigation first-hand.
President Joe Biden. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The inquiry is led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith.
"They’ve just really done exceptional work uncovering the evidence," Johnson said. "They’ve done a great job, and they’ve been very methodical here."
Johnson said impeachment was "designed by the framers of the Constitution to be a very careful and sensitive thing that has to be handled legally and appropriately, and that’s what has been done by our chairmen."
Legal experts have been torn on whether Congress can initiate impeachment proceedings for alleged treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors that transpired before holding the office of the presidency.
The scope of the impeachment inquiry covers the span the time of Biden’s vice presidency to the present, including his time out of office.
When asked for his theory on the matter, Johnson said: "I think I can argue the case that it should extend that far, but I’m not sure that we will have to in this case."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"We have an ongoing cover-up of the important facts as Joseph Biden is sitting in the Oval Office," Johnson said. "We know that he stared right into the camera as the president and lied repeatedly—I mean, multiple times—he lied directly multiple times about his involvement and knowledge of his son’s business dealings. We all know that now."
He added: "He is, you know, as the sitting president, he has been involved in covering it up."
Johnson said he believes there is "an overwhelming amount of evidence, and that seems to indicate that he was involved and that they did know about this, and that the family did benefit from it."
"I think we might be arguing about high crimes and misdemeanors, but I’m not so certain bribery is not involved in some way here, either," Johnson said. "And of course, bribery is specifically listed in the Constitution, and so we have an obligation to pursue it."
Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
He added, "There’s a lot of smoke here, and we’re going to find out very soon how big the fire is."
Johnson, pointing to the records being collected by House Republicans in the ongoing inquiry, said "Bank records don’t lie."
"We have receipts now, we're connecting the dots, and I think this will continue in earnest," he said.
Comer, R-Ky., has collected bank records belonging to the Biden family, and is continuing to do so. His panel is currently collecting subpoenaed personal and business records belonging to Hunter Biden and James Biden.
Comer so far has said his panel has uncovered that the Biden family and their business associates brought in more than $24 million between 2014 and 2019 by "selling Joe Biden as ‘the brand’ around the world.
The White House maintains that President Biden was never in business with his son and had previously insisted he never discussed business with his son or his family. White House officials have blasted the impeachment inquiry against the president as an "evidence-free" political stunt.
Ways & Means Committee chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Johnson told Fox News Digital that there are "a lot of Americans who are really anxious to have accountability."
"But I want to assure everyone that we are working through the process in the appropriate and constitutional manner," he said. "And I think we’re well-positioned to bring accountability to the American people—they deserve it."
Meanwhile, Johnson had a "pleasant meeting" with President Biden at the White House this week.
"He was engaging and personable," Johnson said. "This is not a personal thing that I have with him. I have to do my job, and he has to do his, and my job is to bring accountability to people, and so, I don’t make any apology for that."
Johnson was on the impeachment defense team for former President Trump in 2020.
After winning nomination for House speaker, GOP Rep, Mike Johnson said his party is "united" and said he's "very confident" about his chances on the floor. Getty Images (Getty Images)
"I saw firsthand how the Democrats took a sledgehammer to hundreds of years of precedent," he said. "And we were decrying that all along the way and pointing out that they were opening a Pandora's box and really just diminishing the institution for, kind of, a political vendetta against President Trump."
When asked how he would respond to Democrats casting the continued impeachment inquiry against Biden as political, Johnson quoted John Adams.
"I don't expect anything different from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle with regard to this but as John Adams said, ‘facts are stubborn things,’ and we are going to present the facts and we're going to follow the truth," Johnson said. "And so it doesn't matter what the mainstream media narrative is or what the Democrats say—we’re going to lay the facts bare for the American people to draw their own conclusions, and I think they'll draw the right ones."
As for a timeline, Johnson said he doesn’t have one.
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., in the halls of Congress months before he was elected Speaker of The House. (Office of Rep. Mike Johnson)
"And I haven't prejudged anything," he said. "If I had, I would be guilty of everything that I've pointed out Democrats have done wrong, but I do believe that we're going to draw a lot of this to conclusion soon.
And I'm anxious to do that because I think the American people are owed that."
Beyond investigating Biden’s ties to his family’s business dealings, House Republicans are also probing the alleged obstruction of the Justice Department’s years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden. The allegations stem from IRS whistleblowers who allege politics influenced prosecutorial steps throughout the probe.
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