'I don't think the evidence exists': GOP lawmaker frets about party's new Biden impeachment push

House Republicans may skip past a full vote on an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, but many GOP lawmakers doubt that process will go anywhere.

Multiple GOP sources confirmed to CNN that House speaker Kevin McCarthy has been privately telling his caucus that he plans to pursue an impeachment inquiry by the end of September, but leadership realizes Republicans don't have the 218 votes needed to open the inquiry -- so they may get the ball rolling without forcing vulnerable and moderate members to formally vote on it.

“I don’t believe that a vote of the House is required to open an impeachment inquiry,” said pro-impeachment Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

There is no constitutional requirement to hold a floor vote to formally authorize an inquiry, but they would need money to continue their investigations into the Biden administration -- which McCarthy has said would be cut off if the government shuts down at the end of next month in a budget dispute.

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“If we shut down, all of government shuts down -- investigations and everything else,” McCarthy said Sunday on Fox News.

Republicans are investigating unverified allegations that the president profited from his son Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, and they're also probing whether the Department of Justice interfered with investigations of the younger Biden's criminal case.

The president has denied any wrongdoing, and even some Republicans are skeptical they will find any evidence against Biden.

“There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or that Joe Biden, you know, agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money," said one GOP lawmaker who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. "There’s just no evidence of that, and they can’t impeach without that evidence -- and I don’t I don’t think the evidence exists.”