Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday that House Republicans have “uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct” that will be the basis of an impeachment inquiry.
“Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe,” announced McCarthy in a statement at the Capitol Tuesday. “This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public.”
The speaker said GOP House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky will lead the inquiry in coordination with Republican Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri and GOP House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Speaker McCarthy only spoke for around three minutes and didn’t take questions from reporters. He did not mention holding a floor vote before opening the impeachment inquiry, despite saying earlier in the month it would happen “through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.”
He listed allegations of “abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” made by several Republican-led committees investigating the president against President Biden.
“Through our investigations, we have found that President Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings. Eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his son’s and his son’s business partners,” said McCarthy.
“We know that bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies. The Treasury Department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family. Another business associate that were flagged as suspicious activity by U.S. banks. Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family. Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company,” continued McCarthy.
The speaker concluded, “Finally, despite these serious allegations, it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration. Treatment that not otherwise would have received if they were not related to the president,” said McCarthy. “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption, and they want further investigation by the House of Representatives.”
McCarthy: Impeachment against the president “logical next step”
Earlier, it was confirmed Speaker McCarthy will tell the House GOP today that beginning an impeachment inquiry against the president is the “logical next step” for their probes. An inquiry is the first step of the impeachment process, where evidence is gathered for impeachment charges against the official.
The House Republican conference plans to meet Thursday morning for key committee chairs to lay out their most recent findings and the investigations’ status into the Biden family. The committee chairs overseeing the inquiry will brief rank-and-file legislators.
In a statement from Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, he blasted the effort as politically motivated in response to McCarthy’s announcement.
“House Republicans have been investigating the President for nine months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip-flopped because he doesn’t have support. Extreme politics at its worst,” wrote Sams on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Sources first said in August that McCarthy planned to open an impeachment inquiry this month. There had been a debate at the time over whether to first hold a vote on the floor in a show of Republican unity.
A vote on the floor of the House isn’t necessary to open an impeachment inquiry. Still, Speaker McCarthy had criticized former Speaker Nancy Pelosi for launching one into former President Donald Trump before the formalization of it on the floor of the chamber.
