McCarthy to Endorse Biden Impeachment Inquiry as ‘Logical Next Step’ in Corruption Probe
McCarthy is expected to endorse the move at a closed-door meeting this week.
Month: September 2023
McCarthy to green light Biden impeachment this week
Fox News Digital has confirmed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will tell House Republicans today that beginning an impeachment inquiry against President Biden is "the logical next step."
Tuesday morning's Punchbowl newsletter reported that House Republican leaders will meet behind closed doors Thursday for a scheduled update from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., on their investigations into Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. At the meeting, McCarthy is expected to say an impeachment inquiry is the "logical next step" for the Republican majority.
Sources previously told Fox News Digital that Republicans were planning to launch an impeachment inquiry into Biden this month. Three separate GOP-led committees have investigated allegations that Hunter Biden leveraged his father's official government positions to secure foreign business deals. The open question for Republican lawmakers is whether President Biden ever personally benefited from his son's deals or abused the power of his office to influence them in any way.
McCarthy said last month that an impeachment inquiry would only happen with a formal House vote.
"To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives," McCarthy told Breitbart News in a statement. "That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person."
That means 218 lawmakers will need to support an impeachment inquiry against Biden, and it is not at all certain House Republicans have the votes to do it. Several GOP lawmakers including Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., have voiced skepticism about impeachment. Even some House conservatives who support impeachment have complained about the timing, with Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., telling Fox News Digital last week it appeared McCarthy was "dangling" the issue to avoid a confrontation over spending ahead of the next deadline to fund the government.
The House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives have urged McCarthy to force deeper spending cuts and to attach GOP priorities to any short or long-term deal, though that’s unlikely to get Senate or White House approval. They view the last debt-limit deal as a betrayal because it did not significantly curtail government spending.
"Hiding behind impeachment to screw America with status quo massive funding … will not end well," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, warned GOP leaders earlier this month.
5 KEY DEMANDS HOUSE CONSERVATIVES ARE MAKING BEFORE TAKING PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN OFF THE TABLE
With such a narrow House majority, Republicans can only afford to lose five votes from their conference in an impeachment inquiry vote. Were the House to reject impeachment, it would be a major embarrassment for McCarthy and House Republicans, who would have nothing to show voters for their investigations in next year's general election.
At the same time, impeachment hardliners like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have threatened to attempt to remove McCarthy if the House does not follow through with an impeachment vote.
McCarthy's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Protesters storm Kevin McCarthy’s office over HIV bill, get dragged out by cops
Protesters stormed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's Congressional office on Tuesday, demanding that he and other House Republicans re-up funding for an AIDs relief program.
Protesters with Housing Works pressed their way into McCarthy's office and refused to move until Capitol Hill Police arrived and arrested them. The group was demanding a 5-year reauthorization of the PEPFAR global AIDs relief program, which they say has saved "25 million lives."
Images of the incident show protesters sitting on the floor of McCarthy's office and linking arms as bemused staffers remain at their posts.
"We’re proud to use nonviolent civil disobedience, among other tactics, to demand that our government take action to end AIDS," the group wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS WANT TO LAUNCH BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY NEXT MONTH, SOURCES SAY
McCarthy's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the incident, but Capitol Police confirmed to Fox News Digital that they arrested seven individuals.
"This morning, multiple individuals were demonstrating inside a House Office Building. After the demonstrators refused to cease demonstrating, USCP then arrested the 4 males and 3 females for Unlawful Entry," Capitol Police said in a statement.
Congress has until September 30 to re-up the law guaranteeing funding for the PEPFAR program, but agreement on the issue appears unlikely. The law had previously been renewed on a five-year rolling basis.
The program will still continue if Congress does not renew the law, but its funding will become subject to the annual budget battle.
McCarthy is already facing an impending battle over the annual budget as House lawmakers return to the Capitol for the first time in six weeks on Tuesday. Leaders in the House and Senate have both acknowledged that a deal must be struck on a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, to give both sides more time to reach an agreement.
If no deal is reached by Sept. 30, lawmakers risk sending the government into a partial shutdown.
Fox News Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
GOP lawmaker faces blowback from Republicans over anti-impeachment stance
Conservative Rep. Ken Buck is just one of several House Republicans standing in the way of the right's push to impeach President Joe Biden.
5 key demands House conservatives are making before taking partial government shutdown off table
House lawmakers return to Capitol Hill for the first time in six weeks on Tuesday, but some factions have already begun to draw battle lines for Congress’ coming fight over how to fund the government for the next fiscal year.
The chamber is expected to vote on military funding this week, its second of 12 appropriations bills. Leaders in the House and Senate have both acknowledged that a deal must be struck on a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, to give both sides more time to reach an agreement.
If no deal is reached by Sept. 30, lawmakers risk sending the government into a partial shutdown.
As Speaker Kevin McCarthy works to build consensus within his House GOP majority, here are five major demands conservatives have made that could force a standoff between McCarthy’s conference and Democrats in charge of the Senate and White House.
Allies of former President Donald Trump in Congress have called for an end to the "weaponization" of the Justice Department in exchange for their support on any spending deal, particularly in the wake of the four indictments launched against the ex-president.
It was also a key part of the House Freedom Caucus’s formal position on agreeing to government funding.
The group called for measures aimed at the DOJ and FBI "to focus them on prosecuting real criminals instead of conducting political witch hunts and targeting law-abiding citizens."
Conservative Republicans are expected to put an emphasis on repealing the Biden administration’s progressive military policies on LGBTQ issues and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts as lawmakers debate the defense spending bill this week.
In an internal memo to lawmakers sent late last month, the 175-member Republican Study Committee (RSC) pointed out that a host of conservative, anti-"woke" policy items were passed in the House’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act in July. It said the bill secured "funding for the Department of Defense (DOD) while countering Biden’s woke attacks on military personnel."
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, suggested to reporters on Monday that the defense appropriations bill might not even survive a floor vote if key demands in that area are not met.
"If we want to try to get it across the finish line this week, I'm certainly open to having those conversations, but only if we get the policy changes that need to occur," Roy said. "Why would I fund transgender surgeries? Why would I fund the continued diversity, equity, inclusion officers that are dividing the Pentagon?"
McCarthy committed to Republicans to having the House pass appropriations bills at fiscal year 2022 spending levels, despite previously agreeing to roughly freeze spending at fiscal 2023 levels during negotiations with President Biden over raising the debt limit.
It’s already set the House on a collision course with the Senate, which is cobbling together its appropriations bills with toplines outlined by the McCarthy-Biden deal – about $120 billion dollars higher than the House GOP’s.
The demand for lower spending levels appears to be the most widely shared among House conservatives, though lawmakers have not settled on where to make those cuts.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS WANT TO LAUNCH BIDEN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY NEXT MONTH, SOURCES SAY
Several hardliners in the GOP conference have called for any government spending deal to attach the party’s border security package, another wish-list item that’s virtually guaranteed to hit a wall of Democrat opposition.
Both the RSC memo and the Freedom Caucus’s official position have called for attaching the Secure the Border Act to an eventual continuing resolution, which lawmakers will likely need to pass to extend the current government funding priorities past Sept. 30 and avoid a shutdown.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said last week that he believes there’s a number of Republicans ready to vote against a continuing resolution that does not tackle border issues.
"We're basically done with this. It's time to do the right thing. Secure the southern border," Donalds said.
While a significant number of House Republicans still appear wary of launching impeachment proceedings against President Biden, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., among the most vocal conservatives in the chamber, has made it a requirement of her support for a spending deal.
"I’ve already decided: I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden," Greene told constituents at a town hall.
However, not all members of McCarthy’s right flank agree. Roy told reporters on Monday that impeachment and government spending are, and should be, two separate processes.
House GOP push to launch Biden impeachment probe runs into Senate Republican skepticism
House Republicans are not only facing resistance from within their own ranks to impeach President Joe Biden, they're also getting a cool reception from another key constituency: Senate Republicans.
MTG on 9/11 says states ‘should consider’ secession over Biden border policies
Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., declared Monday that states "should consider" seceding from the United States over President Biden’s border policies.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Greene said Americans are "drowning from Biden’s traitorous" policies on the U.S.-Mexico border.
"If the Biden admin refuses to stop the invasion of cartel led human and drug trafficking into our country, states should consider seceding from the union," she wrote.
"From Texas to New York City to every town in America, we are drowning from Biden’s traitorous America last border policies," she added.
Greene has touted a "national divorce" for years, sparking backlash from her own party. In the latest instance, she suggested a split in the union based on party lines as the nation celebrated Presidents' Day.
"We need a national divorce," she wrote on Feb. 20. "We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done."
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, previously blasted the proposal as "evil."
"This rhetoric is destructive and wrong and — honestly — evil," Cox wrote. "We don’t need a divorce, we need marriage counseling."
"And we need elected leaders that don’t profit by tearing us apart," Cox continued. "We can disagree without hate."
"Healthy conflict was critical to our nation’s founding and survival," the governor added.
Greene fired back at Cox and doubled down on her comments in February, writing, "People agree with me and not the RINO governor of Utah."
"People saying national divorce is a bad idea because the left will never stop trying to control us literally make the case for national divorce," she later wrote. "We don’t want a civil war. We’re not surrendering. We’re tired of complaining with no change and want to protect our way of life."
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.
Rep. Jamie Raskin blows up Republican lies about alleged Biden corruption
As House Republicans gear up to impeach President Joe Biden, Rep. Jamie Raskin has released a thorough statement debunking the supposed basis for an impeachment.
“House Republicans constantly insist that they are investigating President Biden, and not his adult son,” Raskin said in the statement. He continued:
In that case, we can form an obvious judgment on their investigation: it has been a complete and total bust—an epic flop in the history of congressional investigations. The voluminous evidence they have gathered, including thousands of pages of bank records and suspicious activity reports and hours of testimony from witnesses, overwhelmingly demonstrates no wrongdoing by President Biden and further debunks Republicans’ conspiracy theories.
Fear not: Raskin has the receipts. Among the 12,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records, more than 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports, and multiple witnesses interviewed, including two former business associates of Hunter Biden, Republicans have found:
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No bank records showing payments to the president.
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No suspicious activity reports alleging potential misconduct by the president or that he is involved in his son’s business dealings.
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No witnesses testifying to misconduct by the president.
But none of that has stopped Republicans like House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer from claiming that the opposite is true. “We’ve got a President of the United States who’s taken millions and millions of dollars from bad people and bad countries around the world,” Comer has claimed, according to Raskin’s statement, even though Comer has no actual evidence of that.
In fact, as Raskin shows, lots of Republicans know Comer hasn’t found anything meaningful. Here are just a few examples:
Breitbart editor Emma Jo-Morris criticized Chairman Comer for promoting bribery allegations against President Biden even though he has “not shown [proof] to the public,” while Steve Bannon also lambasted Chairman Comer for failing to provide evidence to support his bribery allegations, saying of Chairman Comer, “You’re not serious. It’s all performative.” [...]
Rep. Don Bacon acknowledged that Republicans have failed to prove any wrongdoing by President Biden, “If you wanna get any progress in the Senate, you’re gonna have to show not potential wrongdoing, but wrongdoing. I don’t think we’re there yet.” Rep. Bacon also said that he thinks “we need to have more concrete evidence to go down” the impeachment inquiry path.
Sen. Ron Johnson conceded that Republicans have not found any “direct evidence” or “hard proof” of wrongdoing by President Biden. [...]
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said, “I don’t know what the basis of this call for impeachment is. It just sounds like a lot of noise to me.” Sen. Capito also responded "I do not" when asked if she thinks there is evidence to support an impeachment.
Sen. Mitt Romney acknowledged, “I haven’t seen any evidence” that meets the “constitutional test for impeachment.” [...]
An anonymous GOP lawmaker offered the following assessment to CNN: “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or that Joe Biden, you know, agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money. There’s just no evidence of that. And they can’t impeach without that evidence. And I don’t I don’t think the evidence exists.”
It goes on. Those are six of the 19 bullet points Raskin assembles to show that even many prominent Republicans don’t think Comer has assembled enough evidence to impeach Biden.
The problem is, Fox News will always give Comer a platform to lie about what his own investigations have found. That’s the plan to impeach Biden: Yell again and again that he has taken millions of dollars in illicit payoffs, and rely on those claims to make headlines while the truth is reported as an afterthought. This is a challenge for the media (or the non-right-wing media, anyway): Report on House Republican claims with the truth first and foremost, and make clear the fact that their lies are lies from the start. So far, it’s not doing so hot. When House Republicans move forward with impeachment, the traditional media is going to need to raise its game.
Sign the petition: No more wasted taxpayer money on frivolous GOP hearings.
Why does it seem like Republicans have such a hard time recruiting Senate candidates who actually live in the states they want to run in? We're discussing this strange but persistent phenomenon on this week's edition of "The Downballot." The latest example is former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who's been spending his time in Florida since leaving the House in 2015, but he's not the only one. Republican Senate hopefuls in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Montana, and Wisconsin all have questionable ties to their home states—a problem that Democrats have gleefully exploited in recent years. (Remember Dr. Oz? Of course you do.)
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