WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden late Wednesday brushed off the House Republicans' impeachment inquiry, saying the way he sees it, they launched the investigation against him because they want to shut down the federal government.
Biden, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Virginia, said that instead of being concerned about the probe, “I’m focused on the things the American people want me focused on.”
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The president's remarks were the first since Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced the launch of a Biden impeachment inquiry while the Republican House leader is also struggling to shore up votes to fund the government and prevent a federal shutdown.
“The best I can tell is they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government,” Biden said.
He also made a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a top ally of his chief rival heading into the 2024 election, Donald Trump. “The first day she was elected, the first thing she wanted to do was impeach Biden,” he said.
“Look, I’ve got a job," Biden told his audience. "I’ve got to deal with the issues that affect the American people every single, solitary day.”
McCarthy's sudden decision to direct an impeachment inquiry into Biden over the business dealings of his son, Hunter, and the family finances has won over even the most reluctant Republicans, with some GOP lawmakers pushing for swift action while others expect it to drag into the 2024 election year.
McCarthy opened and closed a private meeting Wednesday of House Republicans justifying his reasoning for the inquiry sought by former President Trump.
The moment is a politically pivotal one for the embattled McCarthy, whose job is being targeted by Trump’s right-flank allies. He has already signaled potential charges of abuse of power, corruption and obstruction for possible articles of impeachment.
“There’s a lot of accusations out there you just want the answers to,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol.
The White House mobilized to fight what it called the “unprecedented, unfounded claims” against the president regarding his son, Hunter, and family finances.
In the inquiry, House Republicans are trying to link Biden to the business dealings of his son and deflect attention away from Trump's own legal peril.
The White House has said that Joe Biden was not involved in his son's business affairs. And so far, Republicans have unearthed no significant evidence of wrongdoing by the elder Biden, who spoke often to his son as vice president and did stop by a business dinner with his son's associates.
In a 14-page memo to news media leaders, the White House urged them to hold Republicans “accountable for the fact that they are lurching toward impeachment over allegations that are not only unfounded but, in virtually all cases, have been actively disproven.”
Biden did not respond early in the day to shouted questions about impeachment during a White House event on cancer research.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it “a political stunt.”
The Republican front-runner for the White House in 2024, Trump is the only president to be twice impeached — acquitted both times — and he is the first to face criminal charges in four separate indictments, including for trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Biden.
The sooner the better to go after Biden, some GOP lawmakers feel.
“I hope we can get it through as quickly as possible," said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the Oversight Committee leading the impeachment inquiry.
Comer and the other House chairmen involved in the impeachment inquiry headed across the Capitol later Wednesday and spent nearly an hour walking Senate Republicans through the evidence they said they had gathered in the past eight months.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has warned the House off impeachment. And GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, after announcing he would not seek reelection in 2024, told reporters Wednesday afternoon, “I haven’t heard any allegation of something that would rise to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor.”
But John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said the briefing by House members left him feeling “there’s enough smoke there that there are legitimate questions.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and other senators said they urged the House chairmen to solidify the process by holding a House vote to move forward with the inquiry.
“I think they’d be better off having a vote. It does give it more legitimacy,” Graham of South Carolina said.
With no vote to launch the inquiry, the impeachment probe is being done without formal House-passed ground rules. That allows Republicans to conduct the investigation in ways the Democrats say are not always transparent, releasing only partial information to the public.
On another front, McCarthy's decision to launch the impeachment inquiry appears to have done little to appease conservative lawmakers he needs to win over for his more immediate task: persuading the GOP majority to pass the federal spending bills needed to avoid a government shutdown in just over two weeks.
Hard-right Republicans still want McCarthy to slash federal spending below the levels he and Biden agreed to as part of a budget deal earlier this year. And that stand risks a federal shutdown if they don't fund the government by Sept. 30, when current money runs out.
Democrats are expected to oppose those Republican efforts as well as fight Biden's impeachment.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the first impeachment of Trump, said McCarthy's failure to bring the inquiry before the full House for a vote was “an acknowledgement that he lacks the support in his conference to move forward.”
“He is beholden to the more extreme elements,” Schiff said as lawmakers returned to Washington late Tuesday. "It is yet another indication of the weakness in the speakership and the degree by which he is manipulated by Donald Trump.”
Yet moderate Republicans representing districts that Biden won in 2020 over Trump and who are most at risk in next year's election generally were supportive of McCarthy’s decision to launch the impeachment probe.
“I would have voted for it,” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said about the impeachment inquiry.
Garcia said, “There’s smoke there so we have a requirement to go investigate that and see if there’s fire there.”
Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, another one of the Republicans from districts Biden won, said he wasn’t worried about any backlash back home. "I think my constituents deserve some answers,” he said.
The freshmen lawmaker and other potential holdouts like Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., were offered private briefings from leadership this week in order to assuage any concerns.
On the government-funding issue, McCarthy does not appear to have a viable plan to keep the government open, several lawmakers said.
The chamber came to a standstill Wednesday. A massive House Republican bill to fund the Defense Department and related military affairs was scheduled for a vote, but it was shelved amid the clash over spending levels.
Conservative Republicans are demanding that McCarthy commit to a total spending amount for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, a request he is not likely to be able to fulfill.
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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Darlene Superville, Chris Megerian and Colleen Long contributed to this story.