A Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is now officially underway. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had originally said a floor vote would be necessary but wisely changed his mind, citing the Pelosi precedent.
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As to what the inquiry is looking into, McCarthy laid out some of the most pressing questions while sparring with the press on Thursday.
Kevin McCarthy calls out a reporter for nonchalantly dismissing concerns about Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
“Do you have any concern?”
“Have you asked the White House ANY questions?!”
“You can’t answer that?” pic.twitter.com/qWEJRjym7X
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 14, 2023
REPORTER: I can’t answer that.
MCCARTHY: You can’t answer that? Do you believe when they said the president went on conference calls? Do you believe that happened?
REPORTER: That’s what the testimony says.
MCCARTHY: Okay, do you believe the president went to Cafe Milano and had dinner with the clients of Hunter Biden who believes he got those clients because he was selling the brand?
REPORTER: That’s what the testimony says.
MCCARTHY: Okay, do you believe Hunter Biden when you saw the video of him driving a Porsche, that he got $143,000 to buy that Porsche the next day? Do you believe the $3 million from the Russian oligarch that was transferred to the shell companies that the Bidens controlled after the dinner from Cafe Milano took place?
REPORTER: That’s what the testimony says.
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Now, a new poll from Reuters is bolstering McCarthy’s position and spells really bad news for Biden. According to the results, a plurality support the impeachment inquiry at 41 percent while 24 percent remain unsure.
NEW: Reuters Poll on Americans’ attitudes toward Biden Impeachment Inquiry
– Support: 41%
– Opposed: 35%
– Unsure: 24%— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 18, 2023
Those are really great numbers for Republicans, and somewhat unexpected. The last thing the GOP needed to do was start this process out in a hole. There are always fears that impeachment will raise a president’s approval, which happened regarding Bill Clinton, though it should be noted that Democrats went on to lose the next national election.
With 41 percent already in support of the inquiry, there’s a lot of ground to be won with the 24 percent who are unsure, and it seems perfectly possible to garner majority support as Republicans continue down this road.
As for Biden, it shows that his stubbornly low approval ratings are actually taking a toll. If there was going to be any “rally around” moment for the president, you’d think this would be it. Certainly, the White House has tried to garner that, painting the impeachment inquiry as baseless. The narrative push isn’t working.
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Returning to McCarthy, this should offer a bit of vindication for him. As I suggested in several past articles, he is playing this correctly. Slow and steady wins the race, and rushing into an impeachment vote would have done nothing but hand Biden a win.
The goal here should be to draw this out as long as possible heading into the 2024 election. You aren’t going to get a conviction in the Senate even if articles of impeachment are passed. What you can get is a turning of public opinion completely against Biden by fully and methodically exposing all the evidence via a thorough impeachment inquiry.
So once again, I’d suggest Republicans lay off McCarthy. Let this play out because the process is the point. The more you rush the process, the less effective this gambit will be.