WASHINGTON House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said the House of Representatives may open an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. But he may lack the votes to make it happen.

While far-right lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have demanded impeachment, a number of more moderate Republicans sound skeptical. McCarthy can lose only four votes from his own party and still push a resolution through the House without Democratic support.

Republicans have been looking into whether President Biden, when he served as vice president nearly a decade ago, did official favors for his son Hunter Biden, who was in business with foreign nationals from China and Ukraine.

So far, Republican investigators have failed to show wrongdoing by the president, and several moderates have suggested the material theyve seen doesnt justify opening an impeachment inquiry.

We should have some clear evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor, not just assuming there may be one, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Hill last week. I think we need to have more concrete evidence to go down that path.

House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) has claimed that when Biden was vice president he pushed for the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to benefit Hunter Biden, who received millions serving on the board of a Ukrainian gas company called Burisma.

Former President Donald Trump made the same claim in 2019, and Democrats impeached him for withholding military aid from Ukraine in an effort to make that country announce an investigation into the Bidens. State Department officials testified during the proceedings that Biden had merely carried out their policy recommendation, not done a favor for his son.