House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Tuesday that the House will open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The speaker, addressing reporters at the Capitol on the first day back from the August recess, said that opening an inquiry is the “logical next step” in House Republicans’ investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the Biden family.
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The inquiry will be led jointly by the chairmen of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees.
“House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s actions,” McCarthy said. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of corruption.”
Despite telling Breitbart on Sept. 1 that if the House were to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into Biden, then it would “occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person,” there will be no vote on the House floor to open the inquiry.
The announcement comes just hours after it was reported McCarthy would endorse an impeachment inquiry in a closed-door conference meeting later this week that would focus on the latest updates from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) related to their investigations into the Biden family. Both Jordan and Comer, along with Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), are set to lead the impeachment inquiry.
Rank-and-file Republicans have pressed the House speaker to greenlight the step, with some even going so far as to threaten to strip McCarthy of his leadership position if he does not comply. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) became the first lawmaker to make such calls over the weekend, suggesting he would extend a hand across the aisle and work with Democrats if it meant electing a new House leader.
“Hi, Eric. If I make a motion to remove Kevin, how [many] democrat votes can I count on? Asking for a friend,” Gaetz said in response to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who criticized the Florida Republican for making “empty threats” to remove McCarthy from the No. 1 position.
Gaetz was quick to take a victory lap shortly after the impeachment inquiry was announced, highlighting that he had pushed McCarthy “for weeks” on the matter.
That suggestion was met with pushback from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has introduced several articles of impeachment against Biden since taking office — efforts she accused Gaetz of refusing to back.
“Correction my friend,” she said in a statement. “I introduced articles of impeachment against Joe Biden for his corrupt business dealings in Ukraine & China while he was Vice President on his very first day in office. You wouldn’t cosponsor those and I had to drag you kicking and screaming to get you to cosponsor my articles on the border. Who’s really been making the push?”
A Biden impeachment inquiry also emerged as a top demand among some House Republicans who have threatened to withhold their support on any government spending legislation unless an investigation is opened. However, it remains unclear whether that push influenced McCarthy’s decision, and the speaker declined to take questions from reporters on Tuesday.
During his announcement, McCarthy referenced many of the findings from the House Oversight, Ways and Means, and Judiciary committees as reasons for his decision to open an impeachment inquiry. This includes bank records that show Biden family members, including Hunter Biden, received millions from foreign nationals from countries including Romania, China, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine and testimony from one of Hunter Biden’s business associates, Devon Archer, who alleged that then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with foreign oligarchs who paid his son and was on speakerphone with his son’s business associates at least 20 times over a decade.
McCarthy also referenced an unverified FD-1023 tip sheet generated by an FBI informant, which alleges that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden each took $5 million bribes from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was a board member.
The veracity of this allegation has been disputed, including by Archer, who was also a board member at Burisma.
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In his transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee, Archer said he disagrees with the allegation Joe Biden was bribed by Burisma officials.
“We’ll follow the facts, the constitution, and the law,” Judiciary Chairman Jordan said in a social media post. “[Speaker McCarthy] is right to launch this impeachment inquiry.”
