OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made his position clear on Monday when asked about the possibility of impeaching President Joe Biden.
During an interview with CNN’s Melanie Zanona, McCarthy spoke about Tuesday’s midterm elections and what Republicans plan to do if they win control of the House and/or Senate. Republicans are currently favored by many to win control of the House. McCarthy, who is poised to potentially become House Speaker if Republicans win the lower chamber, vowed to launch investigations into the Biden administration.
When asked about House Republicans impeaching Biden, he poured cold water on the idea.
“Shouldn’t we know where the taxpayers’ money is being spent?” McCarthy said. “I call that accountability. That’s a responsibility for congress regardless of whose ever party is in the White House.”
“One thing I’ve known about the land of America, it’s the rule of law. And we will hold the rule of law and we won’t play politics with this. We’ll never use impeachment for political purposes. That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion it would not be used. At any other time, it wouldn’t matter if it’s Democrats or Republicans. But the idea of what Democrats have done, what Adam Schiff has done, is treacherous…We’re better than that. We need to get our nation back on track. That’s what the Commitment to America does,” he added.
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McCarthy also slammed Democrats for “heated politics.”
Below is a transcript, via Grabien:
ZANONA: “As speaker How do you tone down that rhetoric? How are you going to stop that and turn down the temperatures?”
McCarthy: “Well, the first thing I’ll ask the president not to call half the nation idiots or challenge them or say things about them simply because they have differences of opinion. There’s a number of people in this country that I have a difference of opinion. And I respect them. I respect their ability to debate. I respect their ideas. Let the idea win at the end of the day, I think leadership matters. And I think it probably starts with the President. And it’ll start with the speaker as well.”
ZANONA: “What about members of your own party who have spread some of these conspiracy theories that have resulted in some of the silence?”
McCarthy: “Yeah, I’ve watched people on both sides of the aisle. As speaker, I’ll be the speaker for the whole House. So I won’t be looking at just Republicans, I’ll look at Democrats as well. You know, when Maxine Waters tells people to go get in their faces. We’ve watched this so many times before, and I appreciate you bringing them up to because as Speaker of the House, I will look at all.”
ZANONA: “Will they get committee assignments? Are you willing to kick some Democrats off of their committee assignments?”
McCarthy: “Well, I’ve been very clear that Eric Swalwell will not serve on Intel. The knowledge that I have based upon the friendship that he had with a Chinese spy, and if he cannot get the security clearance in the private sector, he should not be given the government security clearance either. Adam Schiff should not be serving on Intel either after lying to the American public, and after missing as the chair of Intel, what was going on in Afghanistan and others just to play politics. I think that’s wrong as well.”
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McCarthy also said there will be no more “blank checks” to Ukraine for “aid.”
“I’m very supportive of Ukraine. No, I — it means no blank checks for anything. It means no blank checks for any other policy. I think there has to be accountability brought forth. We have a $31 trillion debt. I think the American people deserve that. You know, in 2015, I had gone to Ukraine after Russia had invaded it. And I then went to the White House with a bipartisan group and I met with then Vice President Joe Biden trying to get them to sell the javelins, a defensive weapon to protect the Ukrainian people,” McCarthy said.
He added: “And unfortunately, President Joe Biden at the time said Germany wouldn’t want that. And I asked him, well, let’s keep them in Poland so they could defend themselves. I just think the actions have been too slow, too late. I rather have taken actions where Russia would have never invaded, and I think we should look for forward looking to other challenges throughout the world, too. We should supply the weapons to Taiwan early so China would not invade, make the world a safer and more secure place. And that’s why I think you always need not a blank check but make sure the resources are going to whereas needed, and make sure that Congress and the Senate have the ability to debate it openly.”
