After having floated the idea for the past few months, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday announced that he had authorized the launch of a formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, Breitbart reported.
In doing so, the speaker laid out a series of allegations of wrongdoing by Biden and his family, evidence of which has been uncovered by the ongoing investigations of the Republican-led House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means Committees since the current congressional term began in January.
Those same three committees, respectively led by Chairmen James Comer (R-KY), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Jason Smith (R-MO), were tasked by McCarthy with continuing their separate but related probes that so far have "uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct" starting during his tenure as vice president, and "paint a picture of a culture of corruption."
"Through our investigations, we have found that President Biden lied to the American people about knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealings," McCarthy said in his announcement. "Eyewitnesses have testified that the President joined multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners, resulting in cars and millions of dollars to his son and his son’s business partners."
"Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to 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 U.S. banks," he continued.
"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," the speaker said. "Finally, despite these serious allegations, it appears that the President’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration; treatment he would not otherwise have received if he 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," McCarthy added. "That’s why today, I am directing our House committees 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."
Speaker McCarthy also sent a letter to his Republican colleagues that similarly laid out the main allegations against President Biden and also urged their attendance at a "special conference" set for Thursday to discuss the impeachment inquiry and address questions from members.
"I don’t make this decision lightly. And regardless of your party or who you may have voted for, these facts should concern all Americans," he said in his announcement. "The American people deserve to know that 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 interest of transparency," McCarthy concluded. "We are committed to getting the answers for the American public -- nothing more, nothing less. We will go wherever the evidence takes us."
In response to Speaker McCarthy's move, the White House rather remarkably sent a letter to all of the major U.S. media organizations with what can only be described as marching orders and a demand that "It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies," according to CNN.
"Covering impeachment as a process story -- Republicans say X, but the White House says Y -- is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable," White House spokesman Ian Sams wrote. "And in the modern media environment, where everyday liars and hucksters peddle disinformation and lies everywhere from Facebook to Fox, process stories that fail to unpack the illegitimacy of the claims on which House Republicans are basing all their actions only serve to generate confusion, put false premises in people’s feeds, and obscure the truth."
Perhaps even more remarkable, and incredibly ironic given the Biden White House's aversion to all things Trump, Politico reported that the White House will likely attempt to cite in its defense an untested legal opinion put forward in early 2020 by then-President Donald Trump's Justice Department in response to the then-Democrat-controlled House's impeachment inquiry against Trump over his Ukraine phone call.
That legal opinion declared that an impeachment inquiry is invalid, and therefore can be ignored or obstructed by the administration unless a full House vote is first taken to formally authorize the inquiry. That came in response to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) launching an impeachment inquiry nearly two months prior to holding a vote, a precedent that McCarthy is now following, just as the Biden White House is following the Trump White House's precedent.
