House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave the clearest indication yet on Tuesday that House Republicans may be approaching an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden for his family’s business dealings, suggesting that the inquiry would be the only way to “know the truth.”
“You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday. “And the only way Congress can do that is go to impeachment inquiry that gives Republicans and Democrats the ability to get all the information.”
The president and his family have been the subject of GOP investigation and ire for months, as lawmakers have zeroed in on his son, Hunter, who has agreed to plead guilty on federal tax charges in a case that Republicans say was politically biased. Meanwhile, the GOP has pointed to an unverified FBI document recently made public as evidence that Biden was involved in a bribery scheme.
McCarthy said on Fox News on Monday evening that Biden has “used the weaponization of government to benefit his family and deny Congress the ability to have the oversight,” and that an impeachment inquiry provides Congress the “strongest power” to get information.
“We’ve only followed where the information has taken us,” McCarthy told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “But Hannity, this is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed.”
Though McCarthy stopped short of an official announcement of an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, the comments mark a shift from just last month, when the California Republican worked to avert an impeachment resolution against Biden from reaching a vote on the House floor.
Indeed, before he took the gavel, McCarthy downplayed calls for impeachment for a number of Biden administration officials that had been circulating among his conference, while warning of impeachment used for political purposes. But as House Republicans have taken aim at the Biden family, and a handful of cabinet members, the speaker has appeared more amenable to the inquiries.
“If evidence continues to rise to the level of an impeachment inquiry, House Republicans will act,” McCarthy wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
