![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/71768794007-polk-congress-reps.webp?resize=660%2C330&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe three Republicans \u2014 Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland; Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Tampa; and Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Clermont \u2014 joined all in their party to vote for the resolution. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, sided with all Democrats in voting against the measure, which passed by a vote of 221-212.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Franklin, a second-term representative, posted a statement Thursday morning on X, formerly Twitter, saying he strongly supports an impeachment inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe House Judiciary and Oversight Committee\u2019s investigations have uncovered official bank records, personal communications and the testimony of credible whistleblowers that prove President Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and the extent of his involvement in his family’s foreign influence peddling scheme,\u201d the statement said. \u201cDespite mounting evidence, the administration has dismissed these allegations out of hand with a glib \u2018nothing to see here\u2019 and refuses to cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Franklin cited the unwillingness of Biden\u2019s son, Hunter Biden, to offer a deposition Wednesday despite a subpoena issued by House Republicans. The younger Biden, facing scrutiny for business dealings in Ukraine, has said he would testify publicly but not in a closed session. Franklin called Biden\u2019s refusal \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis (vote) will further empower Congress to exercise needed oversight and compel the administration and others to cooperate,\u201d Franklin\u2019s statement said. \u201cThe evidence uncovered so far is too disturbing to walk away from when the severity of allegations rise to this level. Congress is duty bound to find answers. Americans deserve nothing less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Republican push for impeachment has focused on President Biden\u2019s possible connection to his son\u2019s business dealings, Franklin raised another issue in a Sept. 23 post on X implying that Biden should be impeached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoe Biden\u2019s Borden (Border) Invasion is a failure to defend the United States, which he swore an oath to do,\u201d Franklin posted. \u201cHigh Crimes and Misdemeanors? You\u2019re damn right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Constitution states that a president may be removed from office if impeached and convicted by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate of \u201cTreason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Webster, a seven-term representative, released a statement about the impeachment resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince January, House Republicans have conducted methodical oversight investigations into President Biden\u2019s actions related to his family\u2019s foreign business dealings and have uncovered serious allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption,\u201d the statement said. \u201cUnlike the Democrats\u2019 soviet style impeachment of President Trump, House Republicans are following the money, evidence, and proper procedures as we investigation President Biden\u2019s influence peddling scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Webster said that the resolution will allow House investigative committees to enforce subpoenas and \u201cremoves the legal ambiguity the White House has claimed to disregard congressional subpoenas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHouse Republicans impeachment inquiry has already provided evidence into the corrupt conduct within the President\u2019s family and has shown that Joe Biden and White House officials have repeatedly lied about Joe Biden\u2019s knowledge and extent of involvement in his family\u2019s business dealings,\u201d Webster wrote. \u201cThe American people deserve answers, and I am committed to working with my colleagues to hold President Biden accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soto\u2019s office emailed a statement in response to a request from The Ledger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn Wednesday, I voted against formalizing an impeachment inquiry into President Biden,\u201d said Soto, a fourth-term representative. \u201cThere is no evidence of wrongdoing. This is obviously a ploy by House Republicans to distract from their own inaction. The House should be focused on passing a bipartisan budget, Farm Bill, and FAA reauthorization to serve the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of Thursday afternoon, Lee had not released a statement about her vote on the resolution. Her office did not respond to a request for comment from the media. Lee is in her first term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Polk County\u2019s four members of the U.S. House aligned with their parties in voting Wednesday on a resolution opening an inquiry into whether there is a basis to impeach President Joe Biden.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[7025],"class_list":["post-40068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-polk-county-u-s-house-reps-vote-along-party-lines-on-opening-impeachment-inquiry-of-biden"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}