Kevin McCarthy Says Republicans Have ‘Moved Even Closer’ to Biden Impeachment Inquiry

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks during a press conference unveiling the results of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) investigation into the biolab discovered in Reedley, Calif., in Washington on Nov. 15, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Sunday that the Republican Party is moving closer to carrying out an impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden.

“We have systematically followed every place the facts have taken us each and every day. And now it’s moved even closer because now we’ve got the subpoenas going in to get the bank statements. We found all of this, the shell companies no one knew about prior. This is important,” the former House speaker told Fox News, adding that President Biden “did get involved” in his son Hunter’s business dealings.

His remark Sunday comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week signaled his “full and unwavering support” for a Biden impeachment inquiry as Republicans “move forward toward an inflection point in this critical investigation,” calling for placing witnesses under oath for questioning.

The impeachment inquiry is looking into whether the Biden family’s business overseas was tantamount to government corruption. The probe started in mid-September under Mr. McCarthy before he was ousted as House speaker, and President Biden and Democrats have said there was no wrongdoing by the president.

About a week ago, House Republicans issued subpoenas to the president’s brother, James Biden, and Hunter Biden for questioning.

“Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement earlier this month.

The subpoenas asked Hunter Biden and James Biden, as well as former business associate Rob Walker, to appear before the Oversight Committee that Mr. Comer chairs for a deposition by mid-December. Lawmakers also requested that James Biden’s wife, Sara Biden, and Hallie Biden, the wife of the president’s deceased son Beau, appear voluntarily for transcribed interviews.

The White House has continuously dismissed the investigation as a political ploy aimed at hurting the Democratic president. They say the probe is a blatant attempt to help former President Donald Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as he runs again for the White House.

“These subpoenas and interview requests are yet further proof that this sham impeachment inquiry is driven only by the demands of the vengeful and prevaricating Donald Trump,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a statement earlier this month.

Mr. Johnson, meanwhile, has recently refuted reports that he told others in private that he doesn’t believe there is enough evidence to impeach the president.

“Our impeachment inquiry has already shown the corrupt conduct of the president’s family and that he and White House officials have repeatedly lied about his knowledge and involvement in his family’s business activities,” Mr. Johnson told reporters last week. “It has also exposed the tens of millions of dollars from foreign adversaries being paid to shell companies controlled by the president’s son, brother, and their business associates,” he added.

Mr. Comer said earlier this year that he believes President Biden should be impeached but said that it’s “going to be left up to the speaker.” Meanwhile, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox News last weekend that he believes the inquiry to last until next year and up until the 2024 election.

“I believe we will get the depositions and the interviews done in this calendar year and then make a decision early next year whether … the actual evidence warrants going to articles of impeachment and moving to that stage of the investigation,” Mr. Jordan told Fox News on Nov. 12.

In recent months, House Republicans expanded their probe to include oversight of a Department of Justice investigation into Hunter Biden as well as allegations that the agency interfered in its own investigation.

One focus of the congressional inquiry has been whether the now-special counsel overseeing the case, David Weiss, had full authority to bring charges against the president’s younger son. In an unprecedented interview Tuesday, Mr. Weiss told lawmakers that he was the “decision-maker” in a years-long case into Hunter Biden’s taxes and gun use.

No one at the Justice Department, including U.S. attorneys or the tax division, blocked or prevented him from pursuing charges or taking other necessary steps in the investigation, Mr. Weiss said. He has charged Hunter Biden with three firearms felonies related to the 2018 purchase of a gun after a plea deal agreement was scrapped during a July court hearing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.