As the U.S. House of Representatives reconvened on Tuesday, GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy directed committees to open an impeachment inquiry into Democratic President Joe Biden—and quickly came under fire from congressional Democrats and progressive groups.
The California Republican's move comes as Congress has about two weeks to avert a
government shutdown, and amid threats that far-right members of the House, such as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), would try to oust the speaker—whose election to the post
required 15 rounds of voting—if he did not act swiftly on impeachment.
While GOP lawmakers have not yet presented concrete proof of the president's alleged misconduct related to his son Hunter Biden's business dealings and legal issues, McCarthy
claimed Tuesday that "House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct. Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption."
The speaker explained that the impeachment effort will be led by Republican Congressmen James Comer (Ky.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), and Jason Smith (Mo.), who respectively chair the House Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees. McCarthy encouraged Biden's team to "fully cooperate" and said that "we will go wherever the evidence takes us."
Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations,
said on social media that "House Republicans have been investigating the president for nine months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing."
McCarthy's "own GOP members have said so," and "he vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn't have support," Sams continued, calling the stunt "extreme politics at its worst."
Other critics of the decision highlighted that Biden is seeking reelection next year and is expected to face the Republican nominee. Former President Donald Trump is the GOP front-runner, despite four ongoing criminal cases and
arguments that he is constitutionally disqualified from holding office again after inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
"In a stunning display of hypocrisy, Speaker McCarthy has caved to Marjorie Taylor Greene and the MAGA caucus by launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden without a full House vote," said Sean Eldridge, founder and president of the progressive advocacy Stand Up America, referencing Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
"This is a bald-faced attempt to distract voters from Donald Trump's 91 criminal counts and hurt President Biden's reelection chances," he charged. "The American people won't be fooled by this political stunt. McCarthy's impeachment inquiry against President Biden does not pass the smell test. In fact, it reeks of political desperation."
Eldridge concluded by accusing the speaker of "undermining our democracy and our Constitution by playing political games with our nation's separation of powers and most serious checks and balances."
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.)—who was a manager for the first of Trump's two historic impeachments—was also critical of McCarthy's decision on Tuesday.
"In 2019, House Democrats moved on impeachment only after developing overwhelming evidence that Donald Trump had attempted to extort the government of Ukraine," Nadler recalled. "In 2021, we needed very little time to determine who was responsible for the attack of January 6."
"Today's House Republicans failed to articulate any specific charge against President Biden—because they have no basis whatsoever to launch this so-called inquiry. They have no evidence of misconduct," he stressed. "Their whistleblowers have been discredited time and time again. They have not even begun to approach the high bar of high crimes and misdemeanors. And they have done none of the work necessary to convince the American people that this stunt is a good idea—a political reality that I suspect will set in for them sooner, rather than later."
"Let me be very, very clear: President Biden has done nothing wrong, and House Republicans have not found a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise," the congressman added. "Speaker McCarthy may get to keep his job for another day, but he has once again caved to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party."
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—a frequent
target of McCarthy and other far-right Republicans for her progressive political views and identity as a Black Muslim woman and refugee—declared that "this is a new low in House Republicans' failure to govern."
"Instead of doing anything to address rising housing costs, raise the minimum wage, tackle child poverty, or address the opioid crisis, Republicans have threatened to plunge the nation into default and are now once again pushing the government to the brink of a shutdown," Omar said. "They have turned the United States House of Representatives into a vindictive political campaign arm of Donald Trump."
"And the hypocrisy almost takes your breath away. Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly said you cannot start an impeachment inquiry without a full vote of the House—and even introduced a resolution that condemns an impeachment inquiry without a House vote as an 'abuse of power' that 'brings discredit to the House' and 'undermines the voting privileges afforded to each member and the constituents they represent,'" she noted. "Yet that is
exactly what Kevin McCarthy is doing today."
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Biden's reelection campaign, similarly said Tuesday that "as Donald Trump ramped up his demands for a baseless impeachment inquiry, Kevin McCarthy cemented his role as the Trump campaign's super-surrogate by turning the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign."
