House Republicans’ appetite for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden has grown during the summer recess as more allegations emerge of his involvement in shady foreign business deals.
House Republicans contend that, based on unverified evidence from an FBI memo, the president was involved in a bribery scheme with his son Hunter that would benefit Ukrainian energy company Burisma during the elder Biden’s tenure as vice president.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has recently floated the idea of an impeachment inquiry, reaffirmed this week that the House was prepared to launch a probe into the president if the White House is not willing to provide more information on what Republicans have labeled a “pay-to-play” bribery scheme.
Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said that America has a right to know if there was pay-to-play. He said President Biden should want to “clear that name rather rapidly, give us his bank statements, don’t fight us when we need information.”
“I think there is enough proof out there that this Biden family needs to come out and show there was no pay-to-play,” Mr. McCarthy told Fox News.
The White House cried foul Tuesday, accusing Mr. McCarthy of lying about President Biden and caving to “far-right” lawmakers on a potential impeachment inquiry against the president.
SEE ALSO: White House: McCarthy lied on Fox News to promote ‘baseless impeachment stunt’
White House spokesman Ian Sams said the speaker made a “series of plainly false, widely debunked attacks” to continue pushing for an impeachment inquiry that “even some members of McCarthy’s own caucus are expressing concerns about pursuing.”
Mr. Sams said Mr. McCarthy lied about the Biden administration obstructing GOP investigations by comparing the Biden administration to the Nixon administration in shutting down House Republicans whenever they had a question.
He said that the claims were “demonstrably false,” particularly because the Treasury Department provided access to records, and the FBI provided the House Oversight Committee with an FD-1023 form, which contains raw, unverified information from human sources.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, accused the Treasury Department of stonewalling requests for suspicious activity reports, or SARs, related to Hunter Biden’s business dealings earlier this year, threatening a hearing over the matter.
Mr. Comer also started proceedings to hold FBI Director Christopher A. Wray in contempt of Congress for withholding the FD-1023 document. Mr. Wray relented just before the ball would have been set in motion, and allowed the committee access to the document.
The document was still not made public until Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, released it last month. The document contains information that Republicans say links Mr. Biden to a pay-to-play bribery scheme through the president’s son with Burisma.
Mr. Sams pointed to testimony from Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer, who testified that he “disagreed with the allegations in the form” about Burisma executives planning to pay the Bidens $5 million each.
Mykola Zlochevsky, the former owner of Burisma, also denied any contact with the elder Mr. Biden, who was then vice president.
Republican Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia support the push for an impeachment inquiry.
Mr. Donalds said that he believes an impeachment inquiry should be a priority for House Republicans when they return in September, citing a growing list of “damning evidence and financial track records and detail.”
“I believe we’re going to start that inquiry when we get back,” Mr. Donalds told Fox News.
Ms. Greene also said she believes House Republicans should pursue an impeachment inquiry when Congress returns, but was not sure if there was enough support among the GOP conference to move forward with it.
She hoped that the “overwhelming evidence” could convince fellow GOP lawmakers who are still on the fence.
Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina who specializes in impeachment, said an impeachment inquiry is meant to gather facts and testimony that could ultimately lead to the drafting of impeachment resolutions.
He said more likely, however, it will be a show of “political theater” leading into the 2024 presidential election.
“It’ll draw attention, probably be covered by the news, among other things, so people can turn this into a bit of political theater and raise whatever points you want to raise about Joe Biden and say whatever they want to say about Joe Biden,” Mr. Gerhardt said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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