McCarthy: House investigations into Biden “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday he’s open to the possibility of launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.

In an interview on Fox News, McCarthy said allegations from House Republicans’ investigation into the Biden family were “rising to the level of impeachment inquiry,” the furthest he’s gone on the possibility of impeachment proceedings.

McCarthy said the Bidens were allegedly paid bribes by foreign businesses and referenced IRS whistleblowers who accused the Justice Department of interfering in an investigation into Hunter Biden, who said he would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges last month.

“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 said.

White House spokesman Ian Sams pushed back on Republicans’ claims, posting on social media that House Republicans were going after Biden “regardless of the truth” and instead of “focusing on the real issues Americans want us to address like continuing to lower inflation or create jobs.”

Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement McCarthy’s comments were “another political stunt” intended to help former President Donald Trump and that the accusations were “baseless.”

An impeachment inquiry is a first step to potentially remove a U.S. president from office. When launched by a House Speaker, an inquiry allows a committee to investigate alleged wrongdoing. If the committee votes for articles of impeachment, the House can vote whether or not to impeach and the Senate can then vote whether or not to convict and remove from office.

McCarthy accused Biden of weaponizing government to “benefit his family and deny Congress the ability to have the oversight,” which he called “something that we have not seen since Richard Nixon.”

McCarthy said the investigations would not be possible if Republicans didn’t have the House majority.

“If you’re sitting in our position today, we would know none of this if Republicans had not taken the majority,” he said. “We only followed where the information has taken us.”

McCarthy didn’t seem ready to launch an inquiry immediately, adding Tuesday while speaking to reporters, “when more of this continues to unravel, it rises to the level of impeachment inquiry.”

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• IRS whistleblower testifies on Hunter Biden probe

Although Biden has faced calls for impeachment from some House Republicans since he took office, McCarthy has in the past cautioned against using impeachment for “political purposes.”

Only three U.S. presidents have ever been impeached and none were removed from office. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998 and Donald Trump in 2019 — for abuse of power and obstruction of justice in connection with threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for information on the Bidens — and again in 2021 —for inciting an insurrection. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before facing impeachment and conviction votes in Congress.