Kevin McCarthy plans to announce the House will move ahead on an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
While the speaker doesn’t yet have the 218 votes needed to move forward, some in the party believe centrists will start to get on board.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy is planning to announce to his GOP conference on Wednesday morning that the House will move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, a source familiar with the plan confirmed to POLITICO.
It’s a huge win for conservatives, who have pressured the California Republican for months to move existing investigations into the Democratic president into a formal impeachment inquiry. Some members of McCarthy’s right flank have openly threatened to try to strip him of the House gavel if their demands weren’t met.
But the long-debated move puts centrists, particularly the 18 vulnerable Republicans in Biden-won districts, in an uncomfortable place. It could also threaten to derail efforts to work with the White House to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month.
The House GOP could hold a vote as early as next week, according to another person familiar with the matter.
McCarthy’s expected announcement was first reported by Punchbowl News.
The whip count: So far, McCarthy doesn’t have 218 GOP votes needed to launch an impeachment inquiry. He and other top Republicans have tried to characterize such a step as strengthening their investigative power, rather than a concrete move toward attempting to boot the president from office — semantics that matter to centrist Republicans.
Still, some moderates have signaled they may get on board if the Biden administration appears to be stonewalling attempts to get certain documents.
“As of now I don’t support [an impeachment inquiry]. I think an inquiry should be based on evidence of a crime that points directly to President Biden, or if the President doesn’t cooperate by not providing documents,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a statement to POLITICO. “There’s clearly corruption with Hunter using his Dad’s name to earn tens of millions of dollars. But impeachment needs to be about the dad, not the son.”
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Kevin McCarthy plans to announce the House will move ahead on an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. https://t.co/ifnnSrRlyS
— POLITICO Congress (@politicongress) September 12, 2023
Senate GOP says House lacks evidence for impeachment https://t.co/aXHxo1DxUH pic.twitter.com/cdd5rE9Bek
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2023
#BREAKING: McCarthy directs House committees to open Biden impeachment inquiry https://t.co/01YB1hxXLo pic.twitter.com/RP8SPChOdd
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2023
.@SpeakerMcCarthy: “Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public."
Speaker Kevin McCarthy… pic.twitter.com/G74bmtRyXI
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2023
This farce won’t be anything like the January 6 Committee hearings. The 1/6 Committee presented ample solid evidence. It had both live and video testimony from credible witnesses. What exactly will this inquiry have to present? Hunter Biden’s supposed laptop? I should think if that laptop had any real evidence, it would have been leaked to the public by now. This whole charade is designed to impress the low intelligence Trumpy base — the ones who think reality tv is real.
We had four years of a reality tv presidency. Now we will have a reality tv congress.
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