House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden isn’t surprising so much as it is depressingly predictable. The Republican Party’s inability to generate the tiniest shreds of evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the then-vice president regarding his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings has been a pathetic spectacle of political theater for just under a year. McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry was him bowing to the pressures from the “Freedom Caucus” wing of his party, but just a short while after his announcement, he was still roundly excoriated on the House floor by Rep. Matt Gaetz, who called McCarthy’s move a “baby step.”
Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, released a statement saying McCarthy’s new political move amounted to an “evidence-free goose chase.” That was the diplomatic reaction to what is clearly the naked abuse of government by conservative lawmakers. “The House Republicans’ investigations for the past 9 months have proved that — as their own witnesses testify the President hasn’t done anything wrong, and their own documents show no ties to the President.”
There are a lot of reactions, but first, let’s hear from legal scholar Elie Mystal:
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Let us start with some criteria.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman gave this Halloween-style response to the news.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley called out the chaos of the Republican Party.
As some people pointed out, McCarthy, like every single Republican in office, is an enormous hypocrite when it comes to just about anything he says or does.
Rep. Ted Lieu decided to give people some context.
What about the leader of the Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell? Can you say, duck and run?
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave some advice to McCarthy on leadership.
Rep. Adam Schiff had some important constitutional information to impart.
At least McCarthy can hang his hat on the idea that now that he’s given the so-called Freedom Caucus what they claim to have wanted, they will totally not try and shut down the government for no discernible reason.
Yikes.
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