- Kevin McCarthy is now openly discussing the possibility of impeaching Biden.
- The top House Republican told Sean Hannity that the GOP's probes are "rising to the level of impeachment inquiry"
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is openly discussing the beginnings of an impeachment process for President Joe Biden, escalating House Republicans' fight with the White House.
"Hannity, this is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed," McCarthy told Fox News' Sean Hannity during a Monday night interview. "
McCarthy specifically pointed to unsubstantiated claims a confidential informant told the FBI of second-hand knowledge that a Ukrainian gas company owner allegedly paid the Bidens $10 million in bribes. The FBI chastised Sen. Chuck Grassley last week after he released a once-private document summarizing the informant's claims.
"If you're sitting in our position today, we would know none of this if Republicans had not taken the majority," McCarthy said. "We have only followed where the information has taken us."
—The Recount (@therecount) July 25, 2023
In response, White House spokesperson Ian Sams blasted McCarthy for the "seemingly bottomless" desire of Republicans to punish the president despite a lack of concrete evidence.
"Instead of focusing on the real issues Americans want us to address like continuing to lower inflation or create jobs, this is what the @HouseGOP wants to prioritize," Sams wrote on Twitter. "Their eagerness to go after
@POTUS regardless of the truth is seemingly bottomless."
McCarthy's comments come as House Oversight Chairman James Comer pushes Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, to appear before his committee. Comer has repeatedly argued that Biden benefited from his family's foreign business dealings while serving as vice president, but thus far has not produced evidence of the n0w-president's wrongdoing.
The House speaker's mention is more than just a shot across the bow at the White House. As Politico pointed out, McCarthy's mention hints that House Republicans may try to start an impeachment process as a way to potentially unlock greater legal power.
Then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler pushed for House Democrats to begin an impeachment probe of Trump as a way to cloak themselves in greater legal power when requesting documents. Federal court battles over documents and testimony can last years, but Nadler argued an inquiry could jumpstart the process. Ultimately, his advocacy failed to convince then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democrats did not move to seriously impeach Trump until after his pressure campaign against Ukraine over the Bidens became public.
While McCarthy has been more guarded when discussing impeachment, some of the more conservative House Republicans have pushed for impeaching the president since his inauguration. A recent flap between Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert was partially rooted in who deserved credit for trying to impeach multiple Biden administration officials.