A growing number of House Republicans have expressed their intent to impeach President Joe Biden, and though House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has in the past seemed reticent to go down that path, he just appeared to signal that he may be on the verge of finally doing so.
In an interview this week, Speaker McCarthy suggested that an impeachment inquiry against President Biden could be launched as soon as next month if the Biden administration continues to refuse to turn over certain unspecified documents that have been requested, according to the Western Journal.
To be sure, McCarthy stopped short of guaranteeing that Biden would be formally impeached, much less actually removed from office, but nonetheless appeared to display his increased level of support for getting the impeachment process in motion with authorization of a formal inquiry into whether impeachment articles are warranted or not.
In a Tuesday interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, the host asked the House Speaker if he had made a decision yet to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden amid ongoing congressional probes aimed at the president and his family, particularly son Hunter Biden and his questionable foreign business dealings and alleged corrupt influence-peddling.
"The thing that holds up whether we do impeachment inquiry: provide us the documents we’re asking," Speaker McCarthy replied, according to The Hill. "The whole determination here is how the Bidens handle this."
"If they provide us the documents, there wouldn’t be a need for impeachment inquiry. But if they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session," he added in reference to the return of Congress in early September following the August recess.
Earlier in the conversation, per The Hill, Speaker McCarthy had suggested without further elaboration that the Biden White House was blocking efforts by House Republicans to obtain certain bank records and credit card statements from Biden family members, and said, "If they hold that up, we would have to move to an impeachment inquiry. Which you know, Larry, gives the apex of power to Congress when it comes to our subpoena power and others to get the documents we need."
"The bank statements, the credit card statements, and others. Show us where the money went, show us were you taking money from outside sources? And that would clear most of this up, but they seem to fight it every step of the way," he added.
At another point in the interview, McCarthy made mention of the various allegations of possible financial crimes committed by members of the Biden family and also voiced concerns over the possibility that the Biden administration may attempt to use the controversial and ongoing special counsel investigation of Hunter Biden as a means to obstruct the various House probes of the president's son and other family members.
"If they use this special counsel to say that they can’t provide us the information, then it just shows more politics. And it will not stop us," the speaker said. "Then we would move to impeachment inquiry and we would be able to still get the documents that we need as we move forward."
There are some questions about exactly what Speaker McCarthy was referencing with his claim that the Biden White House was blocking requests for certain bank records and credit card statements, among other documents, as NBC News reported that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) previously stated in June that "100 percent" of the subpoenas he's issued thus far for such records have been satisfied.
That said, Comer indicated that the next step would likely be actually subpoenaing Biden family members themselves, as he said, "This is always going to end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family."
"Obviously, with all the opposition and obstruction we’re getting from the Biden attorneys now, we know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens," the Oversight chairman added. "So we’re putting together a case, and I think we’ve done that very well."
Whether Comer follows through on issuing subpoenas for Biden family members, as well as whether McCarthy follows through on authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry -- both of which appear to be dependent upon a measure of cooperation from the Biden White House -- will undoubtedly be closely watched over the coming weeks and months.
