Republicans are at each other’s throats over McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden

There’s been a rise in GOP in-fighting since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) Tuesday announcement of an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.

McCarthy and others allege that Biden illegally used his past role as Vice President to aid Burisma, an oil and gas company in which his son served as a board member, and to stop a Ukrainian investigation into the company. However, nearly five years of Republican investigations into the allegations have uncovered no wrongdoing.

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“I’m not deflecting,” he said, as he continuously deflected.

Many assume that McCarthy is pursuing the inquiry to appease hardliners in his party’s far-right Freedom Caucus who have threatened to vote him out of his speakership if he doesn’t accommodate their demands. To this point, caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) recently threatened to issue a daily motion to oust McCarthy for being “out of compliance” with the hardliners who put him into power.

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However, even Freedom Caucus members like Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NB) have both said there’s no evidence of Biden’s wrongdoing.

“The time for impeachment is the time when there’s evidence linking President Biden to a high crime or misdemeanor. That doesn’t exist right now,” Buck recently said on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki. Echoing Buck’s comments, Bacon recommended against an impeachment inquiry “unless more evidence that directly connects to the President is found,” adding, “Escalation and response is not healthy for the country.”

Though Buck later changed his mind and now supports the inquiry, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) initially asked when Buck would formally come out as a Democrat.

Similar to Buck and Bacon, Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) have both said that they haven’t seen any facts or evidence for Biden’s impeachment.

Sams: I actually wrote down what other Republican congressmen have said. Dave Joyce, not seeing any facts or evidence. Don Bacon, there should be a direct link in evidence. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. I have not seen that evidence. pic.twitter.com/SrhrfQ1SfU

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2023

“It is frustrating, obviously,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told The Hill. “I don’t know what the evidence is, where they’re going with this.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) similarly responded, “At least over here in the Senate, we need to be focused on trying to move legislation and keep the trains running. I don’t think it’d be advantageous if this thing went further with all the other things we have to do.”

One Senate Republican, who spoke anonymously to The Hill, called the inquiry “a waste of time” and “a fool’s errand” because the Democrat-controlled Senate will never vote to impeach Biden.

“Maybe this is just Kevin giving people their binkie to get through the shutdown,” the senator said, referencing the Freedom Caucus’ threat to shut down the government if they’re not appeased. “Fortunately, it’ll be dispensed with fairly quickly if they ever send articles of impeachment over to us. We know how this is going to end. It just creates tumult within the conference.”

“It seems like we’re spending a lot of time on things that matter to them that don’t matter to the people I want to have a positive opinion of Republicans next November,” the senator added. “This is not driving [general election] turnout. The only thing that this does is let the folks over there get on TV. It doesn’t do anything to help us with our campaigns next year.… They’re all acting like children.”

Even Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has said that Republicans “couldn’t get the votes” in the Senate to ever convict Biden in an impeachment trial.

“You don’t bring a vote to the floor unless you are pretty sure that you can get the amount of votes that you need,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press NOW. “I know that wouldn’t make it to anywhere over here in the Senate. That probably wouldn’t even — wouldn’t even let it make it to the floor. But again, this is all up to the House. We got enough problems going on right now.”

Biden may be able to ignore any subpoenas that come out of the inquiry because McCarthy violated his own pledge to first hold a House vote approving the inquiry. In 2020, the Department of Justice issued a legally binding opinion that impeachment inquiries are invalid without such a vote.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized McCarthy’s lack of a vote, saying, “If you’re going to impeach a president, you should have an inquiry vote…. The way to make an inquiry legitimate is to have a vote as to whether you should have one at all rather than just the leadership deciding.”

Meanwhile, MSNBC’s left-learning anchor Joe Scarborough mocked Republicans for pursuing a corruption inquiry into Biden when former Republican President Donald Trump and his family conducted numerous shady business dealings during Trump’s presidency.

“[Trump’s son-in-law] Jared [Kushner] got billions of dollars directly related to the work he did for his father-in-law in an official capacity from the Saudis and from others, and [Trump’s daughter] Ivanka, while Donald was meeting with [Chinese] President Xi, got all of these trademark waivers in China so she could sell her goods. ”

“But Kevin McCarthy saying we’re doing this because the administration may have helped their own family,” Scarborough continued. “Does he think everybody is as stupid as hell and don’t realize that we’re talking about billions of dollars going into the Trump family based on business dealings while Donald Trump was president that they cashed in on right after the presidency?”

Lastly, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) said House Republicans were giving off “chaos vibes” with their confused recent actions.

Via X, formerly known as Twitter, she wrote. “So let me get this straight: Republicans are threatening to remove their own Speaker, impeach the President, and shut down the government on September 30th – disrupting everyday people’s paychecks and general public operations. For what? I don’t think even they know.”

So let me get this straight: Republicans are threatening to remove their own Speaker, impeach the President, and shut down the government on September 30th – disrupting everyday people’s paychecks and general public operations.

For what? I don’t think even they know. Chaos vibes https://t.co/qJyR3e4JWk

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 12, 2023