Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he is directing a House committee to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings, kicking off a historic trial before the 2024 election.
McCarthy said the House Oversight Committee’s investigation has so far found a “culture of corruption” surrounding the Biden family, as Republicans investigated the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, even before the Democratic president took office.
“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they require further investigation by the House of Representatives,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said outside the speaker’s office at the Capitol.
“That’s why today I’m directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” he said.
The announcement comes as the Republican leader faces increasing pressure from his right to take action against Biden while struggling to pass legislation needed to prevent a federal government shutdown at the end of the month .
An investigation is a step toward impeachment, and McCarthy has essentially laid out possible charges. He plans to bring lawmakers together behind closed doors this week to discuss Biden’s impeachment, and top House leaders will head to the Senate on Wednesday.
The Republican leader is once again at a political crossroads – trying to please his most conservative lawmakers and prevent his own downfall. It’s a familiar political quandary for McCarthy, who is juggling the impeachment inquiry and the threat of a government shutdown with no clear end result.
The state funding is scheduled to expire in September. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, and Congress must pass new funding legislation or risk a shutdown and disruption of government services.
Minutes after McCarthy spoke, a key Republican critic stood on the House floor, deriding the investigation as “a small step” and repeating threats to oust the speaker. “We need to move faster,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Biden’s White House has dismissed the impeachment effort as politically motivated.
“Speaker McCarthy should not give in to the extreme, far-right members who are threatening to shut down the government unless they achieve a baseless, evidence-free impeachment of President Biden. “The consequences for the American people are too serious,” said White House spokesman Ian Sams.
Former President Donald Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate. He now faces more serious charges in court, having been indicted four times this year, including for trying to overturn the election won by Biden in 2020.
“This is a transparent attempt to boost Donald Trump’s campaign by creating a false moral equivalence between Trump – the four-time impeached former president” and Biden, who has “no evidence of any wrongdoing,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat House Oversight Committee.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings, but so far have provided no clear evidence of a connection between them and the president. They showed some examples, particularly during the time when the elder Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president, when he spoke on the phone with his son and stopped by dinners his son hosted with business associates.
An impeachment inquiry would add weight to the House’s investigation, especially as it fights in court for access to the Biden family’s financial records.
Republicans claim the Justice Department has not fully proven the allegations against Hunter Biden and say he received preferential treatment in a so-called sweetheart plea deal that recently collapsed. The Justice Department has appointed a special prosecutor for this investigation.
“We will go where the evidence takes us,” McCarthy said.
The White House has insisted that Biden was not involved in his son’s business dealings. And Democrats on the Oversight Committee are stepping up to fight what they say are unfounded allegations against him ahead of the 2024 elections.
It’s unclear whether McCarthy has the support of rank-and-file Republicans at all, as he decided to initiate the formal process without putting it to the test with a vote in the House of Representatives.
McCarthy holds only a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, and several Republicans said they see no evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry against Biden, especially given all the other challenges facing Congress.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, is investigating the Biden family’s finances and is expected to seek bank records from Hunter Biden as the panel tries to track the flow of money.
On Tuesday, Comer demanded that the State Department provide documents about the work Biden did as vice president during the Obama administration to clean up corruption in Ukraine. Comer wants to understand the State Department’s views on former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, whom Biden and many Western allies sought to remove from office over corruption allegations.
This comes as federal government funding is set to expire in September. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, and Congress must pass new funding legislation or risk a shutdown and disruption of government services.
Conservatives, who make up McCarty’s majority, want to cut spending, and the far right is unwilling to approve the spending levels the speaker negotiated with Biden earlier this year.
McCarthy is trying to launch a 30-day stopgap measure to keep the government running until November 1, but the Conservatives are resisting a so-called continuing resolution (CR) as they seek cuts.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said late Monday as she left McCarthy’s office that she had “red lines” against any new money spent on COVID-19 vaccines or regulations or Russia’s war in Ukraine become.
And Florida’s Gaetz, a key Trump ally, warns that McCarthy could face backlash from conservatives if he doesn’t forcefully push for spending cuts.
Earlier this year, Gaetz and other Republicans secured deals from McCarthy as he struggled to win their votes for House speaker.
Under House rules, McCarthy’s opponents can call a vote at any time to try to remove the speaker from office.
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