House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has indicated that he is open to an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, but he’s also saying he won’t go down the same path as his predecessor, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, when it came to impeaching then-President Donald Trump — twice.
On Friday, the California Republican said an impeachment inquiry would only move forward on a majority vote of the House, which the GOP controls with a slight majority.
“To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives,” McCarthy told Breitbart News in a statement. “That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.”
McCarthy’s stance represents a departure from the approach taken by Pelosi (D-Calif.) during the initial impeachment inquiry against Trump. In 2019, Pelosi unilaterally announced that the House would move forward with an impeachment inquiry into the then-president following what many Republicans saw as a manufactured controversy surrounding a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“This week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically,” Pelosi said on Sept. 24, 2019. “Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella.
“The president must be held accountable,” she continued. “No one is above the law.”
At first, the Trump White House declined to cooperate with the investigation, citing concerns that the full House had not yet conducted a vote to initiate the inquiry. It wasn’t until several weeks later, on October 31, 2019, that the House officially sanctioned the impeachment inquiry by a vote of 232 to 196.
That said, Fox News reported that sources told the outlet that House Republican leaders are looking to launch an inquiry into Biden over allegations including bribery and other nefarious dealings with foreign governments later this month.
McCarthy told GOP lawmakers during a members-only conference call Monday night that an impeachment inquiry is “the natural progression from our investigations that have been going on,” according to one Republican lawmaker who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The lawmaker said that Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told members on an earlier call that McCarthy said a vote would come to the floor in September.
“What Jim Jordan said was that McCarthy told him that it was…coming to the floor in September,” the lawmaker said.
Last month, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said that it was likely he would subpoena members of the Biden family to provide testimony.
“This is always going to end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family. We know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens,” he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.
“So we’re putting together a case, and I think we’ve done that very well. We’ve shown the bank records,” he said.
“If I had subpoenaed Joe and Hunter Biden the first day I became chairman of the committee, it would have been tied up in court, and the judge would have eventually thrown it out,” the representative said.
“We have put together a case that I think would stand up in any court of law in America,” he said. “We want to talk to about three or four more associates first. We’ve been communicating with a couple of them.
“We’re trying to bring them in just like we did Devin Archer for a transcribed interview.,” the representative said. “If they don’t come in voluntarily, then they’ll be subpoenaed.
“It’s very difficult. You know how hard the Democrats tried to get Donald Trump. So this is very difficult,” he said.