WASHINGTON: Republican US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday launched an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, propelling Congress toward a contentious and unlikely-to-succeed effort to remove the Democratic president.
McCarthy’s move sets the stage for months of divisive House hearings that could distract from congressional efforts to avoid a government shutdown and could supercharge the 2024 presidential race in which Trump hopes to avenge his 2020 election loss to Biden and win back the White House. White House spokesperson Ian Sams said Republicans had turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.
Republicans, who now narrowly control the House, have accused Biden of profiting while he served as vice president from 2009 to 2017 from his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business ventures, though they have not presented substantiation.
Many in McCarthy’s party were infuriated when the House, then controlled by Democrats, impeached Trump in 2019 and 2021, though he was acquitted. Some Republicans had said they would try to remove McCarthy as the leader of the House if he did not move ahead with an impeachment effort.