House Democrats in Thursday's first impeachment inquiry hearing sought to scuttle efforts to investigate President Joe Biden's potential exposure to high crimes and misdemeanors, seeking a vote on the full House floor.
George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley and forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky said the panel had enough evidence to open an impeachment inquiry but did not have enough evidence to justify impeachment charges without further investigation and evidence.
"I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment," Turley said in his opening statement. "But I also do believe that the House has passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry."
"It is your duty to get answers to these questions," Turley would later add, when House GOP panel members questioned Democrats using Turley's comments to suggest an impeachment inquiry was not warranted.
Democrats sought to keep that investigation from continuing before surfacing evidence, saying House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., should force a full House floor vote on an impeachment investigation.
"If Republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol they would be presenting it today, but they've got nothing," House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said before the hearing commenced to hear evidence.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., repeatedly urged Democrats to listen to the evidence they repeatedly say does not exist.
Multiple Democrats in the impeachment inquiry hearing Thursday asked Turley to expound on his opinion the House should vote on the full floor before beginning an impeachment inquiry.
Turley called it a "best practice," but noted a 2019 court noted a House vote does not preclude a House Oversight investigation into allegations that might rise to the level of having sufficient evidence to vote to bring an impeachment trial to the Senate through official articles of impeachment.