House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and top Republicans have begun to strategize about how to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this fall – the latest sign that the House GOP is seriously laying the groundwork to initiate rare proceedings against the current president.
In recent weeks, McCarthy has privately told Republicans he plans to pursue an impeachment inquiry into Biden and hopes to start the process by the end of September, according to multiple GOP sources familiar with the conversations. While McCarthy has already publicly threatened to launch an inquiry if allegations from IRS whistleblowers hold up or if the Biden administration does not cooperate with requests related to House Republicans’ Hunter Biden probe, sources say that McCarthy has sent even stronger signals about his intentions behind closed doors.
It’s not all a distraction. The problem that Kevin has right now is that his majority is slim enough that there are two groups that can scuttle it: the centrist Republicans who won enough purple districts to give Republicans the majority, and the Freedom Caucus loonies on the other side who are afraid of a real Jan 6 trial because they will be implicated in it. The latter obviously has more to lose, so they are being extremely disruptive.
They are pushing hard for weaponizing Congress against Biden, but the moderates know that will doom their chances for reelection so they will not go along with that. That’s why they are talking about just starting an inquiry without a vote: they know they don’t have the votes for it. It is interesting how much of the Republican agenda right now is tied toward doing things without an actual majority behind it, either here or in the Senate. (The reason Merrick Garland never got a vote for SC Justice is that Mitch knew it would pass, so his only option to deny Obama that appointment was to never hold the vote.)
The loonies are even tying action to the budget, saying they will withhold their votes if they don’t think the House is doing enough against the President. I find it very interesting that Kevin is making the case that the continuing resolution needs to be passed in order for investigations to continue. He knows those investigations are going nowhere, but needs to say they might to keep the loonies on the path.
Shrewd take.