Kevin McCarthy Ratchets Up Impeachment Talk Amid House GOP Restlessness

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is rattling the impeachment saber again, signaling a renewed openness toward starting an inquiry into President Joe Biden over GOP claims of corruption.

McCarthy’s comments on the topic came as the House is set to debate a pair of likely contentious government funding bills this week that will test his ability to hold his conference together and as former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Biden, ramped up calls for the president’s prosecution.

“We’ve only followed where the information has taken us,” McCarthy told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night.

“But, Hannity, this is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry,” he said.

McCarthy doubled down on Tuesday, telling reporters a formal inquiry would be the only way to find out what was needed.

“You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth. And the only way Congress can do that is go to impeachment inquiry that gives Republicans and Democrats the ability to get all the information,” he said.

It remains unclear exactly what basis Republicans would claim as meeting the U.S. Constitution’s “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors” criteria for impeachment.

On Hannity’s show, McCarthy mentioned allegations members of Biden’s family have used shell corporations to receive foreign money and that the president’s son has been treated with favoritism by prosecutors, but, as with many other Republicans, he did not mention a specific criminal charge, such as bribery, extortion or prosecutorial misconduct, that those allegations would provide evidence for.

Last week, McCarthy focused on the dispute over whether a federal prosecutor, David Weiss, had been publicly given the authority to charge Biden’s son Hunter for various alleged crimes only to have that power be denied in private. Weiss and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland have insisted Weiss had complete authority to bring charges however he wanted and an assistant attorney general, Carlos Uriarte, said there may be “misunderstandings” over the issue.

McCarthy said last week notes taken by a pair of IRS agents supported the idea there was no misunderstanding over Weiss’ authority.

“I will tell you this. We will get to the bottom. And if somebody is lying, that rises to the place of an impeachment inquiry,” he told reporters.

The younger Biden agreed in June to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay taxes and to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement in connection with a charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm while being a drug user and addict.

Since winning control of the House in last year’s elections, Republicans have talked eagerly of impeaching someone in the Biden administration, though the leading candidate has varied over time.

As of Tuesday, Biden was tied with his Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, for the lead in terms of impeachment resolutions or bills related to impeachment, with five bills having been filed against each of them.

Garland, Vice President Kamala Harris, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, were all well behind with only one impeachment-related bill apiece.

On Tuesday, a pair of hardline House Republicans told reporters they remain interested in impeaching someone, even if they weren’t sure yet who.

“I think the low-hanging fruit is Mayorkas, Secretary Mayorkas,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). But he said an impeachment inquiry would be needed “to bring more witnesses, bring more evidence.”

“It’s all the above,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). “Pick one.”

Referring to payments to Hunter Biden, Norman said, “If that’s not pay-to-play, I don’t know what is. But let the evidence lead us there.”

At the same time, Trump has used his social media site to also say the president is corrupt, even as Trump is expected to face a third court charge soon, in addition to his charges in New York of falsifying business records and a federal indictment over his retention of classified government materials after he left office.

In a Monday post on his site, Trump asked why Senate Republicans were not joining their House counterparts in investigating Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden is the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, which is being undeniably proven in the House of Representatives every single day,” Trump wrote.

Democrats have dismissed the impeachment talk as baseless. Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said so again on Tuesday in response to McCarthy’s appearance on Fox.

“It’s clear that Donald Trump is the real Speaker of the House. He has made sure the House majority is little more than an arm of his 2024 campaign, and Kevin McCarthy is happy to do his bidding,” Harrison said in a statement.

“Instead of wasting the American people’s time and money carrying water for Trump, Republicans should join President Biden in working to provide relief for hardworking families, lowering costs, and bringing jobs back to America instead of playing reruns of the Trump show.”