Having just returned to Washington from the summer period and regaining activity in the House of Congress, controlled by conservatives, the president (speaker), Kevin McCarthy, gave in to the threat of the most ultra sector, in the midst of the skepticism from other Republican legislators.
McCarthy said Tuesday that he ordered three House committees to open an impeachment inquiry against the president. This means making arrangements to obtain bank records and other documents from the president himself and his son Hunter Biden for the possible collection of commissions and corruption in business.
This did not prevent Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz, spokesman for the critical group, from indicating that he is ready to force a revolt to put the position of speaker to a vote if the process is not taken seriously. Gaetz was already close to derailing McCarthy's election as Speaker of the House.
"This is the next logical step", the speaker said yesterday when he considered the investigation that the conservatives have carried out in recent months based on information in which they have not been able to establish the involvement of the president.
"This will give our committees all the power to gather facts and answer the citizens exactly what they want to know from these answers", he emphasized. "I think the president will also want to give answers to these questions and allegations", he insisted. "Americans deserve to know that public positions are not for sale, that the federal government is not used to cover up the actions of family members and associates," he said.
According to his version, the Republicans "have discovered serious and credible allegations of President Biden's conduct", he added. "These are arguments of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption", he reiterated.
The White House countered that, despite the noise, Republicans have found nothing wrong with the inquiries.
"All of this justifies further investigations by the Chamber", clarified McCarthy. It is what the radical Trumpists were asking for, who from the very beginning promised that they would take revenge for the two impeachments that the former president faced. In both cases he was acquitted because the Senate, which decides, was under Republican control. Today it is dominated by the Democrats.
James Comer, a Kentucky lawmaker and staunch Trump supporter, will lead the inquiry as chairman of the Oversight and Oversight Committee, in coordination with Jim Jordan, an Ohio representative and an even more ardent Trump supporter, in charge of the Judiciary Committee, and Jason Smith, elected by Missouri and head of media.
McCarthy's decision, after pressure and the possibility of losing command, represents a significant change in attitude. At the beginning of the month, he assured the conservative website Breitbart that he would not open the process without a vote of the entire House, where his majority is slim and there are a few Republicans who oppose the measure as premature, lacking evidence and therefore wanting the moon in a cave to satisfy the extremists.
So, faced with disbelief, he has taken the straightest line in the face of the apparent lack of votes to promote the issue. And what's more, it's a contradiction of what he said in 2019, when he attacked Democrats for opening an impeachment against President Trump before putting it to a vote. He questioned the legitimacy of the authorization unless the Chamber endorsed it. The Democrats were in control, they brought it to a vote and they won.
One of the spokesmen of the White House criticized McCarthy's decision precisely because of this, to announce the political cause without having put it to a vote. "The investigation by the Republicans of the Chamber has not obtained a single proof of irregularities by President Biden. The witnesses and the documents have not provided any link", he remarked.
