Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is making headlines for his Monday night comments suggesting that the Republican investigation into President Joe Biden’s business dealings are “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry.”
McCarthy’s comments, made to Fox News’s Sean Hannity, mark a rhetorical escalation in the Biden probe – although McCarthy did not say explicitly that he would formalize an impeachment inquiry against Biden.
What are Republicans investigating?
“McCarthy touched broadly on several corners of the GOP probes ranging from payments Biden’s family members received from foreign companies to IRS whistleblowers who alleged the Justice Department hampered the Hunter Biden investigation to an uncorroborated FBI document at the heart of the GOP’s bribery investigation to argue that the Republican investigations are building in the direction of what would be a historic impeachment inquiry,” POLITICO reported.
Here’s what McCarthy said in his own words, speaking to Hannity. “If you’re sitting in our position today, we would know none of this if Republicans had not taken the majority. We only followed where the information has taken us. But…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 promised that Republicans would “follow this all the way to the end and this is going to rise from an impeachment inquiry.”
The White House was not impressed with McCarthy’s comments. Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, pushed back immediately, saying that Republicans’ “eagerness to go after” the president “regardless of the truth is seemingly bottomless…. Instead of focusing on the real issues Americans want us to address like continuing to lower inflation or create jobs, this is what the [House GOP] wants to prioritize.”
Is the Republican investigation appropriate?
My sense is that Republicans would be digging into Biden no matter the circumstances. My sense is that Republicans would say they had legitimate dirt on Biden no matter the circumstances. We live in the post-Gingrich era and maligning your political opponents is seemingly standard operating procedure.
Accordingly, I have been bashing the House’s investigation since Republicans took the majority in January. I don’t trust Republican motivations. I also believe that Republicans are intent on reciprocating the treatment that Trump received while he was in office. (Remember that Trump was impeached twice, once under the conspiracy theory that he was colluding with a nefarious foreign government and once for the January 6th riot).
So, I can understand Republicans wanting to treat the Democrats the way the Democrats just treated the Republicans, although at one point it would be encouraging to see one party be ‘the better man,’ or ‘take the high road,’ or something like that.
That being said, the DOJ’s indictment against Trump for his handling of classified documents has left me asking questions about the relationship between the president and the DOJ.
A simplified explanation of what’s happening could read: the president’s Department of Justice has indicted the president’s chief political rival for an administrative technicality. That is essentially true. Now was Biden involved in the decision or the process of indicting Trump? I couldn’t say.
Maybe not. But the point is I’m suddenly less willing to bash the House investigation into the Bidens – and that’s a political consequence that Democrats should consider as they move forward with their various prosecutions of Trump.
Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor and opinion writer at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
From 19FortyFive
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