White House calls impeachment inquiry ‘evidence-free goose chase’
The impeachment inquiry presents a new set of challenges for Biden as he runs for re-election in what could be a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Congress will now have more power to dig into the president’s finances and devote more resources to investigating the president and his family. An active investigation could also hamper Biden’s efforts to stay out of the political fray. Biden has kept a light campaign footprint since launching his re-election bid in April, with aides wanting him to focus on being president rather than candidate.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) formally ordered House committees to open an impeachment inquiry against Biden that would focus on whether the president benefited from his business dealings. son. The announcement comes after intense pressure from some of the House’s most conservative members, despite a lack of evidence that the elder Biden benefited from his son.
“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption that warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday morning.
For months, White House officials have been preparing for a possible impeachment inquiry by releasing a steady stream of headlines and interviews with various House Republicans in which they acknowledged the lack of evidence of their involvement. impeachable offenses by the president, such as comments Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) made this weekend on MSNBC.
“The time for impeachment is the time when there is evidence linking President Biden, if there is evidence linking President Biden to a high crime or misdemeanor, it does not exist at this time,” he said. -he declares.
The White House and the Biden campaign also took aim at McCarthy for his previous comments that he would not open an impeachment inquiry without a full House vote.
“As Donald Trump intensified his demands for a baseless impeachment inquiry, Kevin McCarthy solidified his role as the Trump campaign’s super surrogate by transforming the House of Representatives into an arm of his presidential campaign,” Ammar Moussa, spokesperson word from the Biden campaign. , said in a statement.
He added: “While MAGA Republicans spend all their time attacking President Biden and his family, the president works every day to improve the lives of American families across the country.
The president has not yet responded directly to the investigation. He returned early Tuesday morning from an overseas trip during which he attended the G20 in India and visited Vietnam. He held no public events Tuesday and the White House did not hold a daily press briefing for reporters.
Washington
