By Aldgra Fredly
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that initiating an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden would be a “natural step forward.”
The comment on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” comes after the speaker started off the week on Monday saying that the impeachment action against the president could start soon following unresolved questions from the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Mr. McCarthy said that an impeachment inquiry would provide Congress “the apex of legal power to get all the information they need” to investigate concerns over whether President Biden misused his office to assist family businesses.
“If you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” Mr. McCarthy told host Maria Bartiromo of likely action by the Republican-majority House, with members set to return to Washington in mid-September.
Mr. McCarthy said on Monday that the inquiry was needed to overcome stonewalling of congressional investigators looking for transparency about the Biden family’s business records following testimony from former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer that President Biden met with son Hunter Biden’s business partners during the time he was vice president, as well as concerns raised by whistleblowers at the IRS regarding Hunter Biden’s tax records.
The White House hasn’t denied Mr. Archer’s claims. President Biden has repeatedly denied having participated or have had any knowledge of his family’s business activities. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.
Thus far, the committee has subpoenaed six different banks, receiving thousands of bank records of several businesses and individuals connected to the business activities of Mr. Biden’s family members.
Those records showed that more than $20 million in payments from foreign sources have been made to the president’s relatives, including Hunter Biden, and their business associates while Mr. Biden was acting as U.S. vice president from 2009 to 2017.
Romanian, Chinese, and Russian nationals were among those making payments to the Biden family and their associates. The records also revealed that the funds were funneled through a network of at least 20 shell companies before being transferred to Biden family members.
However, Mr. McCarthy said there are still questions that remain unanswered: “The American public deserve an answer: who was lying about the allegations made so far, what information went on, who paid, and what foreign governments?”
“And to be able to get the answers to these questions, you would need impeachment inquiry to empower Congress, Republicans, and Democrats to be able to get the answers that the American people deserve to know,” he said.
Even if the president were to be impeached in the House, he is unlikely to be removed from office by the Senate, which has a Democrat majority.
The Oct. 1 start of the next budget year is also fast approaching, and Congress will need to approve the next round of government spending to avoid a partial federal closure.
Mr. McCarthy said that passing a short-term funding measure, or continuing resolution (CR), will be necessary to keep the government running past the end of September while ensuring that investigations into the Biden family’s finances and whether the president played any role could continue.
“I don’t believe we have enough time to pass all the appropriation bills by Sept. 30, so I would actually like to have a short-term CR only to make our arguments stronger,” the house speaker said of this plans for the House in the upcoming Congress.
“If we shut down, all the government shuts down; investigation and everything else. It hurts the American public.
“But if we’re able to pass our appropriation bills, we’re in a stronger position to remove those former House Speaker Nancy ‘Pelosi policies’ that are locked into law right now—the wokeism, the overspending, the non-security of this border,” he said.
Samantha Flom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
