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Post by Newsman on Aug 23, 2023 12:24:17 GMT -5
...Republicans continue their focus on President Biden and his alleged acts of wrongdoing...(The Guardian) House could launch Biden impeachment inquiry next month, says Kevin McCarthyHouse speaker Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers could formally launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden next month when they return from summer recess. During an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday night, McCarthy said the Republican-led House will move forward with an impeachment inquiry if the Bidens do not “provide us the documents we’re asking”. “If they provide us the documents, there wouldn’t be a need for an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said. -- But if they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session.In July, McCarthy floated an impeachment inquiry into Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and his latest comments are the clearest signal yet that an inquiry could come soon in the House. Republicans in Congress have ramped up investigations of Biden and his son Hunter Biden, particularly the younger Biden’s business dealings.
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Post by Webster on Aug 29, 2023 16:24:02 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House GOP still planning Biden impeachment — reportCongress is on recess, but when they return to work on 5 September, House Republicans appear determined to open impeachment proceedings again Joe Biden, CNN reports. It is sure to be a fraught process for the GOP, and almost certain not to result in the president’s removal from office, since the Democratic majority is unlikely to vote for Biden’s conviction. Rather, the effort will be more about appeasing House conservatives, who made a splash in January by delaying Kevin McCarthy’s election as House speaker for days until he agreed to their demands. On the flip side of that dynamic, CNN reports that Republican leaders realize a majority of their party does not yet support impeachment, meaning they would have to start the inquiry in the hopes that some of holdouts change their minds. Expect this to be a big story that will develop over the coming months, and eat up tons of time in the House. Here’s more from CNN: But leadership recognizes that the entire House Republican conference is not yet sold on the politically risky idea of impeachment. That’s why one of the biggest lingering questions – and something Republicans have been discussing in recent weeks – is whether they would need to hold a floor vote to formally authorize their inquiry, sources say. There is no constitutional requirement that they do so, and Republicans do not currently have the 218 votes needed to open an impeachment inquiry.
Skipping the formal vote, which would be a tough one for many of the party’s more vulnerable and moderate members, would allow Republicans to get the ball rolling on an inquiry while giving leadership more time to convince the rest of the conference to get on board with impeachment. During former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, House Democrats ended up voting to both formalize their inquiry and set parameters for the process after initially holding off on doing so amid divisions within their ranks.
“I don’t believe that a vote of the House is required to open an impeachment inquiry,” GOP Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who supports a Biden impeachment and sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN.
Another factor that could complicate the fall timeline for an impeachment inquiry: Government funding expires at the end of September. McCarthy has already signaled they will need a short-term spending patch to keep the government’s lights on, which hardline conservatives have balked at.
Officially moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry could help keep angry conservatives off McCarthy’s back. And the speaker himself has linked the two issues publicly, warning that a government shutdown could hinder House Republicans’ ability to continue their investigations into the Biden administration – a direct appeal to his right flank, and a sign of all the competing pressures that the speaker is facing.
“If we shut down, all of government shuts down. Investigations and everything else,” McCarthy said Sunday on Fox News.
Republicans have pointed to unverified allegations that Biden profited from his son’s foreign business dealings as grounds for impeachment and have also alleged that there was political interference at the Department of Justice in the ongoing Hunter Biden criminal case – neither of which Republicans have been able to prove, which the White House and Democrats have repeatedly stressed. Even some Republicans are still not convinced that they have uncovered any evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the bar for impeachment.
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Post by Webster on Sept 11, 2023 19:03:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden impeachment inquiry ‘eight months of abject failure’ – watchdog reportThe man leading the Republican charge for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden has endured “eight months of abject failure” in trying to prove the US president guilty of wrongdoing, a watchdog report says. James Comer, the ambitious chairman of the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, has repeatedly overhyped allegations of bribery and corruption against Biden without once producing hard evidence, according to the Congressional Integrity Project. The lack of a case underlines the huge political risks facing House Republicans when they return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Some are threatening to force a government shutdown unless an impeachment inquiry is opened despite objections from wary Republican colleagues in the Senate. Comer has been leading an aggressive investigation into unsubstantiated claims that Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business affairs during his time as vice-president. A CNN/SSRS poll this week found that 61% of Americans believe that Biden did play such a role, including 42% who think he acted illegally. But establishing the link between father and son has proved an elusive holy grail. The report says: After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his Maga crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations.In fact, Republicans have been forced to walk back claim after claim. The report offers an anatomy of a fake scandal, detailing a series of exaggerated assertions that have shriveled under scrutiny. They include Comer saying at his first press conference that he had evidence of “federal crimes committed”, relentlessly invoking “deep state” conspiracy theories and claiming that his whistleblowers “fear for their lives”. For months, the report says, Comer talked to the media about four individuals he claimed were “whistleblowers”, a term increasingly hijacked by the right. It adds: Problem is – they weren’t whistleblowers and there were only two people.
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Post by Webster on Sept 11, 2023 19:06:50 GMT -5
(The Guardian) ‘Perfect storm’ brewing in House over impeachment and spending, says GOP congressmanKen Buck, a Colorado Republican congressman, said on Sunday that there was a “perfect storm” brewing in the House that could pose a threat to Kevin McCarthy’s speakership. In an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, Buck said: On the one hand, we’ve got to pass a continuing resolution. We also have the impeachment issue. And we also have members of the House, led by my good friend, Chip Roy, who are concerned about policy issues. They want riders in the appropriations bills, amendments in the appropriations bills that guarantee some type of security on our Southern border.McCarthy has “made promises” on those issues to different groups “and now it is all coming due at the same time”, Buck said. He added that the GOP’s focus should be on issues like border security, crime and inflation, and warned against aggressively pursuing an impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden. He added: There is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president.
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Post by Webster on Sept 11, 2023 19:15:41 GMT -5
(The Guardian) McCarthy doesn't have votes to advance Biden impeachment inquiry, reports sayThe speaker, Kevin McCarthy, doesn’t have the votes to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, according to the CNN report. One moderate GOP lawmaker told the news channel there are as many as 30 Republicans who don’t believe there’s enough evidence yet for impeachment. Republican congressman for South Dakota, Dusty Johnson, said: There is a constitutional and legal test that you have to meet with evidence. I have not seen that evidence, but I guess I’m not suggesting it doesn’t exist. I do think the fact that the committees continue to ask for additional documents suggests that they don’t think their evidentiary record is complete yet.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman from Georgia, told CNN she personally would like to see an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden happen this week. Greene has made clear that her support for government funding is contingent upon the House GOP launching an impeachment inquiry into the president, among other things. She said: Our conference needs to stop capitulating to the left, more members that are in blue districts. That’s not what the donors are donating money for. And we need to stop allowing Biden-district Republicans to hold up our agenda.She added: Put the vote to the floor, even if it fails. I guarantee you, if you put it back, it’ll pass because every single Republican that votes no to it will get destroyed by their districts.Citing sources, the report says Donald Trump is set to forcefully weigh in on the looming government shutdown, the White House’s request for disaster relief and aid for Ukraine, and the growing calls on the right to impeach Biden. -- The former president is likely to ramp up his calls to impeach Biden and come out strongly against Ukraine aid, further ratcheting up pressure on McCarthy as he plots his strategy for the treacherous month ahead. All of this is expected to be discussed in a closed-door party meeting Wednesday, the first time House Republicans will huddle in person since before the six-week August recess. How McCarthy and his leadership team handles this critical month of governing will have major implications for both the country and his speakership.
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Post by Webster on Sept 12, 2023 19:36:56 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Kevin McCarthy calls for Biden impeachment inquiryHouse speaker Kevin McCarthy has called for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. Speaking to reporters, he said: I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. House investigation found a 'culture of corruption' around Biden family, says McCarthyHouse speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republican-led investigations into Joe Biden “paint a picture of a culture of corruption”. He said: Through our investigations we have found that President Biden did lie to American people about his own knowledge of his family’s foreign business dealers. Eye witnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phones and had multiple interactions, dinners that resulted in millions of dollars into his son and his son’s business partners.McCarthy claimed bank records showed nearly $20m in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates “through various shell companies”. He went on: Despite the serious allegation, it appears that the president’s family has been offered special treatment by Biden’s own administration treatment that otherwise would not have received. These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.He announced that he is directing the House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president, describing it as a “logical next step” that will give the committees “the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public”.
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Post by Webster on Sept 12, 2023 19:38:46 GMT -5
(The Guardian) McCarthy vows to 'go wherever the evidence takes us' as he formally endorses Biden impeachment inquiry McCarthy said his decision to direct a House committee to formally open a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden was not taken lightly. The House speaker said he believed that the president “would want to answer these questions and allegations” and that this “should concern all Americans” regardless of who they voted for. -- The American people deserve to know that the public offices are not for sale and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically associated family. I would encourage the president and his team to fully cooperate with this investigation in the interests of transparency. We are committed to getting the answers for the American public – nothing more, nothing less. We will go wherever the evidence takes us.
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Post by Webster on Sept 12, 2023 19:39:22 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Sept 12, 2023 19:40:22 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 12:56:16 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump 'privately encouraged House GOP members to impeach Biden'The speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, on Tuesday announced that Republicans would open an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden over unproven allegations of corruption in his family’s business dealings. In a statement, McCarthy said the House investigations into the Biden family this year uncovered a “culture of corruption” that demands deeper review. But it is unclear if the Republican party has the evidence to substantiate the long-running claims, or even the votes for impeachment. In response, White House spokesperson Ian Sams described McCarthy’s move as “extreme politics at its worst”, while a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign said the House speaker has “cemented his role as the Trump campaign’s super-surrogate by turning the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign”. Since gaining the House majority in January, House GOP members have aggressively investigated the president and his son, Hunter Biden, over allegations that echo those that Donald Trump has made for years against Biden and his family. Trump has talked regularly with members of the House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for a Biden impeachment inquiry, according to a New York Times report published this morning. The former president dined with the far-right congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said she told Trump she wanted the impeachment inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”. A Politico report on Tuesday wrote that the former president has been speaking on a weekly basis with House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, who was the first member of Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment.
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 12:57:59 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump dined with Marjorie Taylor Greene to plot 'excruciatingly painful' Biden impeachment - reportDonald Trump has privately and publicly pushed for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, including weekly telephone calls with the chair of the House GOP conference, Elise Stefanik, and dinner with the far-right congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to a New York Times report published today. Greene, a conspiracy theorist and Trump ally, confirmed to the paper that she dined with the former president on Sunday night, and that the pair discussed the push by House Republicans to impeach Trump’s likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election. Greene, who has introduced articles of impeachment against Biden, said she laid out her impeachment strategy at the dinner, telling Trump she wanted the inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”. The dinner took place just two nights before the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, under intense pressure from his right flank, announced his decision to order a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. Trump has spoken regularly with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for impeachment, according to the report.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right congresswoman who dined with Donald Trump two days before Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, told reporters on Tuesday she wanted to see “a very deep dive” “no matter how long it takes”. Greene, who has been pushing for the inquiry since the GOP took control of the House in January, said the inquiry “may take months and months”. Speaking after McCarthy’s announcement, she said: It may go all the way to the November election. But what we need to do is we need to investigate Joe Biden. But we also need to investigate the web of people that exist in our federal agencies, the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, and many others, serving not only in this administration, the former administration and the one before it, maybe even further, we need to find the people that have covered up Joe Biden’s crimes and all of the Biden family’s corruption.A New York Times report published this morning says Greene dined with Trump on Sunday night at his Bedminister club, where she told the paper she laid out her plan for a “long and excruciatingly painful” impeachment inquiry into Biden.
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 13:52:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump spoke with leading House GOP member Elise Stefanik shortly before impeachment announcementDonald Trump has been weighing in behind the scenes in support of the House GOP push to impeach Joe Biden, including talking with House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, shortly before House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Republicans would be pursuing the inquiry. Trump has been speaking weekly with Stefanik, who was the first member of the Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment, according to a Politico report. Stefanik confirmed she had spoken with Trump on Tuesday, telling reporters: I speak to President Trump a lot. I spoke to him today.Stefanik, who has been floated as a potential running mate for Trump in his 2024 presidential bid, added that she believes the Biden family’s business dealings are “the biggest political corruption scandal of our lifetime”. The Politico report writes: The extent of [Trump’s] private involvement in encouraging House Republicans to plow forward with the process shows the influence he continues to wield inside the party as its likely presidential nominee.
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 13:53:19 GMT -5
(The Guardian) James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee who has led the Republican charge for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, spent “eight months of abject failure” in trying to prove the US president guilty of wrongdoing, according to a watchdog report published on Monday. Comer has been leading an aggressive investigation into unsubstantiated claims that Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business affairs during his time as vice-president. But the report by the Congressional Integrity Project, which monitors the Republican investigations, says Comer repeatedly overhyped allegations of bribery and corruption against Biden without once producing hard evidence. The report says: After months of political stunts, dozens of hearings, transcribed interviews, and memos, and despite hours on Fox peddling conspiracy theories, Comer and his Maga crew have failed to find a single shred of evidence linking President Biden to any of their lurid accusations.
Donald Trump’s behind-the-scenes lobbying of prominent House Republicans, including Elise Stefanik, and members of the hard right of the party including Marjorie Taylor Greene, tallies with his increasingly shrill public calls for impeachment. The twice impeached former president posted on Truth Social last month: Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US.Trump was impeached first for seeking dirt on opponents in Ukraine, then for inciting the deadly attack on Congress on 6 January 2021. Retaining sufficient Republican support in the Senate, he was acquitted both times.
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Post by Webster on Sept 13, 2023 13:57:39 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The Republican-led House oversight committee is leading the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, with the House judiciary committee and House ways and means committee playing supporting roles. The committees are expected to send letters this week requesting Biden family members’ bank records and other documents in a bid to prove corruption allegations relating to the president’s son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, according to Punchbowl News. The House oversight committee panel’s next steps will be to “pursue Hunter and James Biden’s personal and business bank records” and interview more members of the Biden family, a committee spokesperson told the outlet. James Comer, who is chair of the House oversight committee, said his investigation will focus on the president’s alleged wrongdoing, while the other two committees will train their focus on the alleged “cover-up”. All these issues will be discussed at a special House GOP meeting on Thursday, according to the report.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to call for a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden came after weeks of pressure from hardline House GOP members, but his decision to bypass a floor vote was designed to protect frontline Republicans from having to publicly cast a vote that could come back to bite them in next year’s election, the Punchbowl News report writes. -- The reality for the 58-year-old, nine-term McCarthy is that once he opens an impeachment inquiry, it’s almost guaranteed that House Republicans will impeach Biden. Remember, a sizable number of Republicans were ready to impeach before the inquiry even began. And once the House has begun the process, not impeaching Biden will look like a validation of the president to many rank-and-file lawmakers. That may be too much for McCarthy to control.The report says most of the 18 Republicans who represent districts that Biden won in 2020 told them they supported the inquiry. John Duarte, a California congressman who represents a district Biden won by 11 points, told the outlet: I think that there’s been enough preliminary work here to absolutely justify going forward with an inquiry. So I think it’s a great middle step. Let’s just get all the facts out and then decide what goes forward from there.
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Post by Webster on Sept 14, 2023 16:07:23 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden brushes off impeachment inquiry: 'I have a job to do'Joe Biden brushed off the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry over unproven corruption allegations relating to his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, saying that he was “focused on the things the American people want me focused on”. In his first remarks since the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, announced on Tuesday he would formally open a Biden impeachment inquiry, the president linked the inquiry to the looming showdown over funding the government. “I don’t know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me,” Biden told donors at a Democratic fundraiser in Virginia on Wednesday night. -- Now, the best I can tell, they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government.He insisted that instead of being concerned about the inquiry, “I get up every day, not a joke, not focused on impeachment. I’ve got a job to do.” Biden’s remarks came hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the inquiry a “political stunt”. McCarthy’s move kicks off what are expected to be weeks of Republican-led hearings intended to convince Americans that the president profited from the business dealings of his son and other family members, but it is unclear if the GOP has the evidence to substantiate the long-running claims, or even the votes for impeachment.
Joe Biden, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Virginia on Wednesday night, made reference to the far-right Georgia congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a close ally of Donald Trump. Biden said: The first day she was elected, the first thing she wanted to do was impeach Biden.The White House has blamed Taylor Greene into pressuring the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, to order an impeachment inquiry into the president over unproven corruption allegations relating to his family’s business dealings. According to the New York Times, Trump dined with Taylor Greene at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Sunday night, just two days before McCarthy announced his decision to order a formal impeachment inquiry. Greene confirmed to the paper that the pair discussed the inquiry, and that she had laid out her impeachment strategy at the dinner, telling Trump she wanted the inquiry to be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden”.
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