This morning, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that the House is launching an investigation that may lead to the impeachment of President Biden. Here is McCarthy making the announcement; text is below:
Welcome back, everyone. You know, in the months that we were gone, in the weeks, 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. Now, here’s what we know so far through our investigations.
We have found that President Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings. Eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his sons and his son’s business partners.
We know that bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies. The Treasury department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family and other business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by US banks. Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family.
Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden’s business partners about Hunter’s role in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
Finally, despite these serious allegations, it appears that the President’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration–treatment that would not otherwise have been received if they were not related to the President. These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives. That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That’s exactly what we want, to know the answers. I believe the president would want to answer these questions and allegations as well. This effort will be led by Chairman James Comer at the Committee on Oversight in coordination with Chairman Jim Jordan for Judiciary Committee and Chairman Jason Smith on Ways and Means.
I do not make this decision lightly and regardless of your party or who you voted for these facts should concern all Americans. The American people deserve to know that the public offices are not for sale and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically associated family. I would encourage the president and his team to fully cooperate with this investigation in the interests of transparency. We are committed to getting the answers for the American public. Nothing more, nothing less we will go wherever the evidence takes us. Thank you.
There are certainly good legal grounds for an impeachment inquiry. Bribery is one of two specific grounds for impeachment stated in the Constitution, along with treason, and there is already a great deal of evidence in the public domain that Joe Biden has taken bribes amounting to millions of dollars.
Of course, impeachment is pre-eminently a political act. Republicans would be foolish to impeach Biden unless there is reason to expect political advantage. Here, too, I think they are on good ground. Polls indicate that most Americans have already figured out that Joe Biden and other members of his family are corrupt. That perception will only harden as more evidence is revealed and, in some news outlets at least, discussed.
Democrats are playing every kind of dirty pool, including trying to keep Donald Trump off the ballot on patently spurious grounds (more on that later). This is no time for Republicans to play softball. Joe Biden is a vulnerable, unpopular president. Few Americans have confidence in his ability to do the job, and most already consider him to be more or less corrupt. So I see little downside in doing the right thing–investigating Biden’s impeachable offenses, and then, based on the record, voting on impeachment.
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