Biden impeachment inquiry: McCarthy says House will investigate president

[Social Media]

 

The US House of Representatives will open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, its most senior Republican has said.

Kevin McCarthy said the inquiry would focus on "allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption" by Mr Biden.

Republicans have been investigating the president since they took control of the House in January.

The hearings have found no concrete evidence of misconduct by Mr Biden.

They have, however, shed more light on business dealings by the president's son Hunter Biden - which Republicans say are questionable - and on Mr Biden's knowledge of his son's activities.

In a brief statement at the US Capitol, Mr McCarthy said there were "serious and credible" allegations involving the president's conduct.

 

"Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption," he said.

The White House was quick to condemn Mr McCarthy's decision.

"House Republicans have been investigating the President for nine months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing," White House spokesperson Ian Sams wrote in a social media post.

"Extreme politics at its worst."

 

• Hunter Biden: Who are the IRS tax whistleblowers?
• The struggles and scandals of Hunter Biden

 

Hunter Biden is currently under federal investigation for possible tax crimes related to his foreign business interests.

 

FULL STORY

[ozimoron]

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) moved to launch an official impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday — without a vote on the House floor. 

 

 But it’s a significant reversal for the GOP Speaker, who just 11 days ago said he would not open an official probe without a floor vote. 

 

It also leaves him open to cries of hypocrisy: McCarthy criticized former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for kicking off an impeachment inquiry of former President Trump in the same manner in 2019. Pelosi announced an inquiry on Sept. 24, but the House did not vote on the matter until Oct. 31.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4201155-why-mccarthy-launched-an-impeachment-inquiry-without-a-vote-and-why-he-can/

 

[ozimoron]

McCarthy contends there is a “culture of corruption” around the Biden family, despite the fact that no direct evidence of wrongdoing by the president has emerged.  

The investigation might shake loose such proof — or not.  

 

“It’s a waste of time; it’s a fool’s errand,” one Republican senator who requested anonymity told The Hill. 

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4200810-the-memo-mccarthys-impeachment-gamble-carries-deep-risks/

[ozimoron]

 

[bendejo]

So we now have the witch hunt that T____ has been promising.

Bengazi II

 

[Tug]

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

 

Yup the republicans have been reduced to a sorry lot by their albatross trump this inquiry is a total sham it’s nonsense and damaging to our country.if it wasn’t so harmful it would just be another pathetic ploy by trump and his minions as they circle the drain sad ???? 

[earlinclaifornia]

100% guarantee the House will be Democratics. Thank you loser McCarthy! Your what America needed.

[ozimoron]

18 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

100% guarantee the House will be Democratics. Thank you loser McCarthy! Your what America needed.

He'll lose the speakership anyway. The far side have turned their attention to shutting down the government now and they'll see that McCarthy is trying to swing a vote to pass the debt ceiling increase in order to avoid shutting down the government. He caved to the impeachment demands knowing that impeachment has a snowball's chance in hell in the senate. Just red meat to keep MAGA giving donations.

[earlinclaifornia]

Some Republican senators remember that the impeachment of then-President Clinton backfired politically in the 1998 midterm election, when the president’s party picked up five House seats, a notable break from the historical trend. 

[earlinclaifornia]

My bet is on Biden winning on who will still have a job between McCarthy or Biden?

Matt Gaetz Gives Kevin McCarthy Final Warning (newsweek.com)

 

[ozimoron]

13 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

My bet is on Biden winning on who will still have a job between McCarthy or Biden?

Matt Gaetz Gives Kevin McCarthy Final Warning (newsweek.com)

 

The GOP has become a party controlled by extremists now. They're going to go down for decades until they return to sanity.

 

The GOP Can’t Hide From Extremism

 

The backlash against former President Donald Trump’s meeting with Nick Fuentes, an avowed racist, anti-Semite, and Christian nationalist, has compelled more Republican officeholders than at any point since the Charlottesville riot in 2017 to publicly condemn those extremist views.

 

Yet few GOP officials have criticized the former president personally—much less declared that Trump’s meeting with Fuentes and Ye, the rapper (formerly known as Kanye West) who has become a geyser of anti-Semitic bile, renders him unfit to serve as president again.

 

Even this distancing from Fuentes (if not Trump) comes as House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, the putative next speaker, is poised to restore prominent committee assignments for Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, two House Republicans who have publicly associated with Fuentes.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/12/gop-lawmakers-distancing-extremism-trump-fuentes-ye/672328/

Edited September 13, 2023 by ozimoron

[Emdog]

The Republicans are architects of their own downfall: by gerrymandering and making districts "election proof" (near impossible for demo to win), they also ensured that if far right got in, there wouldn't be enough to get them out. Attempts at sanity and/or moderation candidates get tossed out in primaries.

[earlinclaifornia]

McCarthy needs to  call Gaetz bluff , if he calls that vote and it fails because the Dems back McCarthy then Gaetz is out, he will be lucky to retain his place in congress.

47 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

My bet is on Biden winning on who will still have a job between McCarthy or Biden?

Matt Gaetz Gives Kevin McCarthy Final Warning (newsweek.com)

 

McCarthy needs to call Gaetz bluff, if he calls that vote and it fails because the Dems back McCarthy then Gaetz is out, he will be lucky to retain his place in congress.

 

 

 

[LosLobo]

Joe Biden has a Trump card to play against the impeachment inquiry....

 

In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them.

 

How Donald Trump’s DOJ gave Biden a major assist in the coming impeachment probe - POLITICO

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, earlinclaifornia said:

Some Republican senators remember that the impeachment of then-President Clinton backfired politically in the 1998 midterm election, when the president’s party picked up five House seats, a notable break from the historical trend. 

An inquiry is not the same as a formal impeachment proceeding. However, if it came up with something significant it might progress to that.

I for one welcome the inquiry, and hope something substantial comes of it re Biden.

[placeholder]

8 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

An inquiry is not the same as a formal impeachment proceeding. However, if it came up with something significant it might progress to that.

I for one welcome the inquiry, and hope something substantial comes of it re Biden.

Because you're a disinterested neutral party.

[billd766]

10 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

An inquiry is not the same as a formal impeachment proceeding. However, if it came up with something significant it might progress to that.

I for one welcome the inquiry, and hope something substantial comes of it re Biden.

I welcome the enquiry as well.

 

I am old enough to know the difference between President Biden and his son.

 

If, yet again the investigating find no evidence, will they all resign from the senate, and the GOP, and fall on their swords?

 

Or as usual, will they scrabble around desperately looking for something/anything else to whine and complain about.

 

What they have to do is find real evidence and proof that will stand up in court.

 

it seems to me that they are like a bunch of spiteful children shouting that 'cos you lot got our guy legally, we are gonna get your guy any way we can'. Nyah Nyah Nyah.

 

These are supposedly intelligent and well paidpeople, but they don't, can't or won't see the damage that they are doing to the USA or the GOP.

 

IMHO they need their bottoms smacked, wear dunces caps and stood in the naughty corner like the innature children that they are.

[billd766]

23 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Because you're a disinterested neutral party.

I OTOH am more or less neutral.

 

Not so much disinterested but sadly disappointed with the quality of politicians in most countries world wide.

[Chomper Higgot]

35 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

An inquiry is not the same as a formal impeachment proceeding. However, if it came up with something significant it might progress to that.

I for one welcome the inquiry, and hope something substantial comes of it re Biden.

You are right, an inquiry isn’t an impeachment and this inquiry never will be.

 

The ‘something substantial re-Biden’ is voters realizing the Republicans are away with the fairies, doing everything they can to placate their cult leader.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

I OTOH am more or less neutral.

 

Not so much disinterested but sadly disappointed with the quality of politicians in most countries world wide.

Like there’s any kind of equivalence between the Dems getting it done for America and the Republicans dreaming up fake allegations to placate their criminally indicted cult leader.

[candide]

1 hour ago, LosLobo said:

Joe Biden has a Trump card to play against the impeachment inquiry....

 

In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them.

 

How Donald Trump’s DOJ gave Biden a major assist in the coming impeachment probe - POLITICO

From the article:

"[W]e conclude that the House must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process in that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents or testimony,” 

[impulse]

8 hours ago, ozimoron said:

He caved to the impeachment demands knowing that impeachment has a snowball's chance in hell in the senate. Just red meat to keep MAGA giving donations.

He didn't call for an impeachment.  He called for an impeachment inquiry.  To get subpoena power to demand evidence the Biden team is refusing to release.

 

BTW, he broke precedent by starting the inquiry before the vote.  Except he wasn't the first to  break precedent.  That was Ms Pelosi.  Funny how they don't like it when the other side does it...  Maybe she shouldn't have opened Pandora's box.

 

Sadly, I'm forecasting politics by impeachment for the foreseeable future,  On both sides.

 

[Danderman123]

9 hours ago, earlinclaifornia said:

100% guarantee the House will be Democratics. Thank you loser McCarthy! Your what America needed.

I don't think so.

 

The House will be won or lost in November 2024 based on conditions in the US at that time. Nobody will remember what happened in 2023.

[Danderman123]

6 hours ago, candide said:

From the article:

"[W]e conclude that the House must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process in that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents or testimony,” 

The key is that McCarthy did not want a vote of the full House for this inquiry. But, apparently it takes a vote of the full House to grant subpoena power.

 

HOWEVER, some committees already have subpoena power, and one of them could conduct the inquiry, with requiring a full vote of the House.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

The key is that McCarthy did not want a vote of the full House for this inquiry. But, apparently it takes a vote of the full House to grant subpoena power.

 

HOWEVER, some committees already have subpoena power, and one of them could conduct the inquiry, with requiring a full vote of the House.

Gym Jordan, subpoena refusenik issuing subpoenas.

 

 

[nauseus]

12 hours ago, Tug said:

Yup the republicans have been reduced to a sorry lot by their albatross trump this inquiry is a total sham it’s nonsense and damaging to our country.if it wasn’t so harmful it would just be another pathetic ploy by trump and his minions as they circle the drain sad ???? 

This is not to do with Trump. It says Biden on the can.

[nauseus]

10 hours ago, earlinclaifornia said:

Some Republican senators remember that the impeachment of then-President Clinton backfired politically in the 1998 midterm election, when the president’s party picked up five House seats, a notable break from the historical trend. 

So was Billy Jeff's happy ending.

[nauseus]

9 hours ago, ozimoron said:

The GOP has become a party controlled by extremists now. They're going to go down for decades until they return to sanity.

 

The GOP Can’t Hide From Extremism

 

The backlash against former President Donald Trump’s meeting with Nick Fuentes, an avowed racist, anti-Semite, and Christian nationalist, has compelled more Republican officeholders than at any point since the Charlottesville riot in 2017 to publicly condemn those extremist views.

 

Yet few GOP officials have criticized the former president personally—much less declared that Trump’s meeting with Fuentes and Ye, the rapper (formerly known as Kanye West) who has become a geyser of anti-Semitic bile, renders him unfit to serve as president again.

 

Even this distancing from Fuentes (if not Trump) comes as House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, the putative next speaker, is poised to restore prominent committee assignments for Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar, two House Republicans who have publicly associated with Fuentes.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/12/gop-lawmakers-distancing-extremism-trump-fuentes-ye/672328/

The hand back to Trump in milliseconds - as ever - off topic.

[candide]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

This is not to do with Trump. It says Biden on the can.

Sure! 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/12/trump-privately-discussed-biden-impeachment-with-house-gopers-00115357

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4174481-trump-presses-republicans-to-impeach-biden-or-fade-into-oblivion/

 

https://truthout.org/articles/twice-impeached-trump-wants-to-know-how-many-times-gop-will-impeach-biden/

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

This is not to do with Trump. It says Biden on the can.

Trump lobbying key Republicans over attempt to impeach Joe Biden
Republicans prominent in move to accelerate long-shot bid say they have been in close touch with twice-impeached ex-president

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/13/trump-impeachment-biden-republicans-lobbying