OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrats are furious that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) unilaterally declared an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden earlier this week only have their own senior party member to blame, critics pointed out.
McCarthy announced the inquiry Tuesday afternoon. “Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,” he said. “I do not make this decision lightly. Regardless of your party or who you vote for, these facts should concern all Americans. The American people deserve to know that public offices are not for sale.
“I would encourage the president and his team to fully cooperate,” he added. “We will go wherever the evidence takes us.”
The move drew immediate pushback from Democrats, but Washington Examiner columnist Byron York pointed out that just a few years ago, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a similar decision and announcement of an impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump.
“On October 15, 2019, three weeks after unilaterally declaring an impeachment inquiry, Speaker Pelosi, backed by Adam Schiff, insisted there was no requirement to hold an authorizing vote and she would not hold an authorizing vote,” he tweeted.
On October 15, 2019, three weeks after unilaterally declaring an impeachment inquiry, Speaker Pelosi, backed by Adam Schiff, insisted there was no requirement to hold an authorizing vote and she would not hold an authorizing vote. https://t.co/9VKvTycJDx
— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 14, 2023
It should be noted, too, that House Republicans have spent months investigating the Biden family’s business transactions and have heard from several whistleblowers, some of whom have claimed they were prevented from pursuing several investigative and legal avenues when examining Hunter Biden’s activities, especially.
Meanwhile, the Republican leader in the Senate has responded to McCarthy’s call for an impeachment inquiry into Biden.
When asked about McCarthy’s announcement on Tuesday, the Senate Minority Leader from Kentucky said he would give House Republicans plenty of room to conduct their inquiry after saying last month that “impeachment ought to be rare” and “is not good for our country.”
Asked if he supported McCarthy’s decision, McConnell said: “I don’t think Speaker McCarthy needs any advice from the Senate on how to run the House.”
McConnell added that he is much more focused on other pressing business before Congress at the moment, The Hill reported.
“Look, we got our hands full here trying to get through the appropriations process and not have an omnibus, and I don’t have any advice to give to the House. They’ve got a totally different set of challenges than we do,” McConnell said, likely referring to the growing pressure from the right on McCarthy to order the inquiry.
“So I think the best advice for the Senate is to do our job and see how this plays out later,” he added.
Over the summer, McConnell lamented how Democrats, when they controlled the House, lowered the bar to impeach then-President Donald Trump not once but twice, the second proceeding coming after Trump had already left office toward the end of January 2021.
“I said two years ago, when we had not one but two impeachments, that once we go down this path, it incentivizes the other side to do the same thing,” McConnell told The New York Times.
“Impeachment ought to be rare,” he added. “This is not good for the country.”
Other Senate Republicans were highly skeptical that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would actually take up the impeachment even if it passed the House.
“It really comes to how do you prioritize your time? I don’t know of anybody who believes [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.] will take it up and actually have a trial and convict a sitting president,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said, according to The Hill.
