The Republican Attempt to Impeach President Biden

from New York Times I'm Michael wabaro. this is the daily. [Music]. the speaker of the house has ordered an. impeachment inquiry into President Biden. putting into motion the third formal. attempt by Congress to remove a. president in the past four years. today I spoke with my colleague Luke. Broadwater about the unique realities.

behind this one. it's Friday September 15th. Luke I want you to walk us through this. news conference a few days ago in which. speaker Kevin McCarthy explains this. pretty momentous decision to open an. impeachment inquiry right well the house. had just come back from a long August. recess and was about to gavel in to.

start its September session. and Kevin McCarthy calls a snap news. conference outside of the speaker's. office what we call the small rotunda at. the Capitol. and he walks out welcome back everyone. he sets somewhat of a somber tone you. know the months that we were gone in the. weeks. House Republicans have uncovered serious.

incredible allegations and to President. Biden's conduct and he begins to lay out. why he believes there needs to be an. impeachment inquiry into President Biden. now here's what we know so far. through our investigations we have found. that President Biden did lie to the. American people about his own knowledge. of his family's foreign business. dealings the first thing he says is that. President Biden lied about his son.

Hunter Biden's business dealings there. is evidence that President Biden made at. least one very prominent false statement. and that other times he oversimplified. or maybe made misstatements when. describing the business interactions. eyewitnesses. have testified that the president. joined on multiple phone calls and had. multiple interactions but then he makes.

a series of allegations about conduct. that Hunter Biden engaged in and. attempts to link it to President Biden. and he does it in a way that has not. really backed up to date by any hard or. concrete evidence. and that really is the link that has. been missing so far for the House. Republicans who through their various. committees for months now have of course. been investigating President Biden and. his family I'll give you one real quick. example dinners resulted in cars and.

millions of dollars into his sons and. his son's business partners. in McCarthy's speech He suggests that. Biden is responsible for getting his son. millions of dollars and fancy cars and. things like that and you know Hunter. Biden did get expensive gifts and. millions of dollars from overseas. business interests what McCarthy is. alleging and what Republicans have yet.

to prove is that it was Joe Biden's. intervention that caused those things to. happen all they've uncovered so far is. that on occasion Joe Biden exchanged. niceties with business associates of his. son things like chatting about the. weather or or a handshake they have not. produced any concrete evidence that he. was directly involved in any of these. business activities himself but that's. the type of thing the Republicans are.

digging into to try to prove that's why. today. I am directing our house committee to. open a formal impeachment inquiry into. President Joe Biden he makes clear that. he believes these are allegations that. they are not proven that there is no. immediate pending impeachment but that. he believes an impeachment investigation. is necessary to get to the bottom of. them we are committed to getting the. answers for the American public nothing.

more. nothing less we will go wherever the. evidence takes us thank you very much. [Music]. so in summary McCarthy is laying out. actual evidence of misstatements that. President Biden has made while President. perhaps knowingly perhaps unknowingly. about his son Hunter's business dealings. and McCarthy is pairing that with. allegations for which there's not really.

much evidence that Biden was directly. involved in those deals back when he was. vice president or afterward. so at the heart of this is essentially. the claim that before Biden was. President he acted in a corrupt manner. that's exactly right most of the. allegations stem from a period of time. when Joe Biden was vice president. although they are now alleging also that. once he becomes president his.

administration is engaged in sort of. turning a blind eye to these allegations. and not investigating fully the case. against Hunter Biden basically that. there's a kind of cover-up yes they do. allege a cover-up without a ton of. evidence but they allege a cover-up so. just to be clear no new bombshell. evidence implicating President Biden has. just been revealed no single Smoking Gun. that explains McCarthy's decision I mean.

everything he has laid out here that. we're talking about is familiar and yet. it never before merited an impeachment. inquiry that's right and in fact the. vast majority of the Republican case. against Biden has existed for years I. mean Senate Republicans did a lengthy. report in 2020 that has the majority of. these allegations in it now they have. added some new facts and some new. evidence in the past year but it's not.

something that fundamentally changes the. nature of the case. so if there's not super damning new. evidence Luke help us understand the. timing of this we have known of course. that Republicans have wanted to impeach. President Biden pretty much since the. moment he took office but why right now. why this week. sure no you're exactly right from day. one of Biden's presidency some members. of Congress have started introducing. articles of impeachment against him.

they've wanted to impeach him over the. situation at the border they've wanted. to impeach him over the fentanyl crisis. they wanted to impeach him over the. withdrawal from Afghanistan so there are. a number of reasons why they have gone. after Biden from the start and so for. most of that time Kevin McCarthy has. tried to hold off the right wing of his. party he says there should be no. impeachment for political reasons he.

said Republicans should be above that. they should follow a process where. evidence is gathered he's also. repeatedly maintained that no. impeachment in Corey should be opened. without a vote of the Full House that it. should have the support of the majority. of the body before any impeachment. inquiry is ever undertaken but there's a. couple things you need to understand. stand one Kevin McCarthy is clinging to. the speakership by the thinnest of. margins remember he only became speaker.

after making a ton of concessions to the. hard right and one of those concessions. was agreeing that any one member at any. time if they were dissatisfied with. Kevin McCarthy could call a vote to. remove him right and on top of that. remember when we were barreling toward. default on our debt and in order to. avoid that McCarthy cut a spending deal. with the White House yes I do well the. hard right remains really mad at him for.

that and we are entering a period now. where McCarthy has to make good on that. deal and fund the government by the. deadline on September 30th and the hard. writers saying no way we're not voting. for those bills and they're telling. MacArthur the only way he gets their. votes and avoids the government shutdown. is to make some concessions and one of. those concessions is impeaching. President Biden. so these hard-right House Republicans. are explicitly saying to the speaker. over whom they have a tremendous amount.

of Leverage given their slim majority. we are angry about the spending deal you. struck with Joe Biden we don't like it. but you should know. that if you want us to support that kind. of a budget you need to go after Joe. Biden with something like impeachment. yes that's exactly right some of them. have made that very explicit and said an. impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden was. necessary for their vote to keep the.

government open huh and so those are the. real dynamics at play and the great. pressures on Kevin McCarthy but I think. the thing that really tips it over the. edge is the actions of Congressman Matt. Gates of Florida. Matt Gates lets it be known that as soon. as the house is back in session he plans. to give a blistering floor speech. against Kevin McCarthy in which he is.

going to demand that Kevin McCarthy come. into compliance with the far right or. face removal from the speakership and. it's clear that one of the demands Gates. is planning to make is that McCarthy get. a lot tougher on President Biden and his. son Hunter and the clear implication. here is that McCarthy better get going. with impeachment or he's going to face. some real consequences.

[Music]. so there is now a very direct imminent. and specific public threat from Matt. Gates against McCarthy's future as. Speaker. unless he immediately complies with this. request to open an impeachment inquiry. that's correct and so Kevin McCarthy is. faced with this choice either he can. keep with a position he's held for a. long time that an impeachment inquiry.

should only be opened with a full vote. of the house at present he lacks the. votes to do that I'll note or he can. change his position give in to Matt. Gates's demand and unilaterally order. the impeachment inquiry and looking at. the best way he can try to stay speaker. and cling to his speakership he makes. what I think a lot of Republicans. believe was the only choice he could. make politically and that is to go ahead. change his position reverse his previous.

statements and order an impeachment in. Corey to in some ways keep his job right. and we know exactly what happens next. McCarthy comes out delivers this speech. announcing that he's going to open this. impeachment inquiry does exactly what he. knows Congressman Gates. wants them to do yes so McCarthy gets. ahead of Gates She positions himself as. the aggressive actor against President. Biden which is always a good position to.

be in if you want to appeal to the far. right of the Republican Party. but Matt Gates doesn't back down I rise. today to serve notice Mr Speaker you are. out of compliance with the agreement. that allowed you to assume this role he. gives the floor speech anyway the path. forward for the House of Representatives. is to either bring you into immediate. total compliance. or remove you pursuant to emotion to.

vacate the chair and he proceeds to lay. out all the ways Kevin McCarthy is. failing at speaker but here we are eight. months later and we haven't even sent. the first subpoena to Hunter Biden. that's how you know that the rushed and. you know somewhat rattled performance. you just saw from the speaker isn't real. at this point during so he makes clear. he was not satisfied with McCarthy's. speech I know that Washington is.

are known for keeping their word will. speaker McCarthy I'm here to hold you to. yours. so this must have been pretty. disappointing for McCarthy. because his call for the impeachment. inquiry and Gates gives this searing. speech anyway well if you look at it. from McCarthy's point of view he thinks. he won the day if you look at all the. headlines and the news coverage It's All. About Kevin McCarthy getting tough with. Biden him moving forward with this.

impeachment and that is for someone who. has to govern the Republican party in. the house and the far right that's a. good day for Kevin McCarthy when he. looks tough on Biden and there's almost. no headlines about Matt Gates calling. for his removal which in an alternate. scenario could have been the news of the. day which would have been the far right. precious McCarthy calls for him to step. down. right and Luke suffice it to say this is.

not the normal course. by which an impeachment inquiry this. really grave historic decision is opened. as basically job security to save your. job as house Speaker well it's not just. about job security remember he's also. doing this to try to avoid a government. shutdown Kevin McCarthy is very. interested in making sure it's seen that. Republicans can operate a functioning. government and not plunge the country.

into chaos. and so McCarthy may have won the day and. he may have staved off the hard right. detractors for some time. but now he's stuck with a unilateral. impeachment inquiry which is something. that he never wanted to do in the first. place. and now he has to live with that and all. the complicated implications that go. along with it. [Music].

we'll be right back. foreign. so look what will the opening of this. impeachment inquiry that speaker. McCarthy is now stuck with do and mean. exactly people like Matt Gates have. wanted this but precisely why do they. want it what powers in their minds does. it give House Republicans looking into. Biden that they didn't already have. well functionally it doesn't actually.

change all that much you already have. three congressional committees. investigating President Biden's. Administration and President Biden's. family they already have subpoena power. but Congress derives its Authority from. the fact that it's part of the. legislative process and so a traditional. Congressional investigation really only. is valid in the eyes of the courts and. the eyes of the law if they're actually. engaged in some attempt at legislating. rewriting a law changing a statute.

introducing new legislation right but if. a committee or committees embark on an. impeachment inquiry they no longer have. to come up with legislative reasons for. what they're doing they don't have to. try to pretend they're really rewriting. the ethics code right they can simply. say we're demanding these documents. because we are investigating whether or. not the president committed High crimes. or misdemeanors got it and so.

it gives them they believe a better. argument in court should some of their. actions get challenged by the Biden. Administration got it because up until. now they have if we're being honest. needed to manufacture a legislative. reason to look into Hunter Biden and Joe. Biden perhaps they would argue we want. to strengthen influence peddling laws so. that's why we're looking into Hunter. Biden and Joe Biden but in reality. that's not quite what they were doing. and now that they have an impeachment. inquiry they don't need such an excuse.

and they will have greater legal footing. for a really aggressive investigation. into both that's correct got it and I'm. curious were these committees running. into any legal limitation in their. existing investigations of Hunter and. Joe Biden or was this just House. Republicans anticipating that they might. run into these problems. yeah it's very much the latter. Republicans have not faced a ton of. fight from the Biden White House or from.

Banks as they've been trying to get. these records James Comer who's the. chairman of the oversight committee said. in the past six months every single. subpoena he has sent out has been. complied with 100 percent. so it's not because they've been. encountering resistance to date it's. that they believe they will encounter. resistance and want to have their. strongest argument for demanding the. records that they are about to demand so. from what you're saying opening an.

impeachment inquiry doesn't. fundamentally change these. investigations it gives Republicans more. legal confidence in the investigations. but of course impeachment has another. very clear Advantage for House. Republicans which is political. oh absolutely it serves a number of. purposes for Kevin McCarthy one it helps. him politically on the hill it helps. Stave off those hard right Republicans. who have been calling for his head two. it helps settle a political score there.

are a lot of Republicans on the hill who. still are bitter about the impeachments. of Donald Trump particularly the first. impeachment which they argue had thin. evidence that was the impeachment of. course where Donald Trump was on a phone. call with the leader of Ukraine and the. allegation was that he was shaking him. down to try to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. and withholding Aid because of it right. and we should say dig up dirt not just. on Joe Biden but on Joe Biden's son.

Hunter. and many of the things that Republicans. are now trying to look into. yes time is a flat circle it is all. coming back around again but they're. still bitter over that and they've been. looking to exact revenge on Joe Biden. and the Democrats because of the. impeachments of Donald Trump three Kevin. McCarthy believes it's effective. politically because you know Donald. Trump is facing four criminal.

indictments 91 felony counts on a range. of very serious allegations against his. conduct while he was president and even. before he was president. and they're hoping that an impeachment. inquiry will muddy the waters in the. minds of Voters and create the. impression that well I don't know who's. more corrupt right between Joe Biden and. Donald Trump and so it's hard for me to. say as a voter and then the fourth thing. and I think you know this is what. they're holding out hope for is that as.

they dig deeper into Joe Biden as they. dig deeper into Hunter Biden as they. turn over or more stones that eventually. they may in fact find that Smoking Gun. which to date they have not right and so. they're holding out that if they just. keep digging eventually they might get. that really damning piece of evidence. well to that point let's talk about. where this all now leads or doesn't lead. does impeachment inquiry given the. nature of an impeachment inquiry and the.

realities of this very narrow house. Republican majority. well functionally for the hell an. impeachment inquiry can become an. all-encompassing exercise it can suck. all the air out of the room of anything. else this Congress might want to do and. it will become the focus of a lot of. media attention and a lot of the work. that lawmakers are doing so it will have. an intense effect on the operations of.

the Hill as long as the impeachment. inquiry lasts politically though there. are quite a few Republicans who are. dreading bringing this to a vote yeah. and I mean just as evidence of that. Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes. right now even among Republicans to even. open an impeachment inquiry if he put. this to a floor vote there are quite a. few Republicans on the hill who say we. haven't seen any hard evidence. everything we've seen is innuendo and. circumstantial evidence and we're not.

willing to impeach without something. concrete and so so in order to try to. convince his full membership to go along. with this he's got to produce. better and stronger evidence against the. president right now they have 14. Republicans who represent districts that. were won by President Biden and forcing. those Republicans to vote to impeach the. president who won their districts and is. popular with their voters.

in some people's view that's a recipe. for losing the house it's a recipe for a. very unpopular vote for these. Republicans and in fact I was talking to. Democrats on the hill just yesterday who. believe that this impeachment inquiry. will help them with moderate voters they. think that if moderate voters look at. the house and they see Republicans. clamoring for both a shutdown and a. political impeachment of the president. that that only benefits them in 2024. so.

bottom line what you're saying is. actually getting to a point where House. Republicans would vote to impeach. President Biden is pretty unpopular. among Republicans particularly the. moderate ones trying to hold on to their. seats and they think might actually. benefit Democrats so it doesn't seem. like there's a whole lot of enthusiasm. for this being anything other than a. gesture to appease the Matt Gates's of.

the world right and so time will tell on. that is it just an investigation that. spins its Wheels forever and never leads. to an actual impeachment vote it could. be but there's also a belief on the hill. that launching an impeachment in Corey. is a bit like jumping out of a plane. once you're in the air you're going to. hit the ground that at some point after. you've investigated enough you will have. to call for the vote and you'll have to.

force this tough vote on the Republicans. in the house to see up or down are they. going to move to impeach President Biden. right and in which case they may need to. do something that they know inflicts a. lot of political damage on themselves. right and a lot of Republicans will tell. you when they look back at the first. Trump impeachment they believe that they. did well when the Democrats moved. against Trump on the first impeachment. politically and they don't want to see.

the same thing happen to them in this. house. well to that point Luke I want to end by. asking you to reflect on the reality. that we are now enduring our third. impeachment process in just a few years. this one weirdly enough hearkening back. to some of the same circumstances as the. first impeachment of President Trump. hundred Biden Joe Biden Ukraine and. despite very real differences between.

these impeachments. it does feel like we are living in a. world where impeachment is now viewed. much more than I think we ever imagined. it would be as an everyday tool of. political life. yes I think that's very much the case it. used to be that impeachment was reserved. only for the rarest of circumstances and. in this Congress we've seen various. Republicans have introduced articles of. impeachment against five different.

members of the Biden Administration the. homeland security secretary the Attorney. General up and down the line. and we've long ago I think left the idea. that you had to prove a high crime to. start an impeachment inquiry and we are. now in the phase of the impeachment. inquiry has enough political benefits on. its own so might as well go ahead and do.

it. oh Luke thank you very much. thank you. on Thursday Federal prosecutors charged. Hunter bite with lying about his drug. use when he purchased a handgun in 2018. and for illegally possessing the weapon. after a plea deal involving those. charges collapsed. the charges do not implicate President.

Biden whose administration rolled out. what the times described as a. long-planned strategy for defending. itself against the house impeachment. inquiry as part of that strategy White. House officials and their allies. dismissed the allegations against the. president as baseless and debunked. attacked House Republicans for. distorting the evidence and pushed the. news media to frame the entire conflict. on the president's terms as a naked Act.

of political partisanship. foreign. [Music]. here's what else you need to know day on. Thursday evening with their latest.

contract set to expire at midnight. members of the nation's largest Union of. Auto Workers were preparing to begin a. strike today against the three Detroit. automakers Ford General Motors and. stalantis. the union said that the strike would. likely begin with limited walkouts at. specific Auto plants in an attempt to. disrupt car makers production while. still allowing most workers to keep. collecting a paycheck.

negotiations between the union and the. car makers have made little progress the. union has demanded 40 percent pay. increases arguing that the pay for the. automaker's CEOs has risen by the same. amount over the past few years. [Music]. today's episode was produced by Carlos. Prieto Rob zipko and Ricky novetsky it. was edited by Paige cowett contains.

original music by Marion Lozano Diane. wall and rowani misto and was engineered. by Alyssa Moxley our theme music is by. Jim brunberg and Ben Landsberg of. wonderly. [Music]. [Music]. that's it for daily I'm Michael Bavaro. see you tomorrow. [Music].