The White House blasted congressional Republicans on Wednesday for what it characterized as clumsy and unfocused attacks against President Joe Biden as Republicans, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), escalated talks of impeachment against the president.
The White House memo, obtained exclusively by HuffPost, comes a day after McCarthy signaled a renewed desire to go after Biden for alleged corruption, despite the lack of evidence pointing to specific wrongdoing. McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that a formal impeachment probe is necessary to unearth the evidence to make their case, giving Democrats an opening to argue that Republicans are simply throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks.
In the wake of McCarthy’s statements, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates skewered the GOP for not being able to settle on a “consistent, disciplined message” and instead picking from a “fragmented grab-bag” that includes opposing drug crackdowns, attacking the president’s advanced age and promoting “bizarre conspiracies” about Biden’s family.
The memo noted:
Instead of having a consistent, disciplined message, the congressional GOP’s public criticisms of the Biden-Harris Administration are now a fragmented grab-bag that runs the gamut from bizarrely opposing our fentanyl crackdowns to blasting us for trying to end rural poverty (not a joke, sadly).
At 8 am, House Republicans are shouting something about drag queens (yeah, we don’t know); at 9 am, it’s “Joe Biden’s still old and also he keeps outsmarting us” (but actually); at 10 am, it’s calling Ukraine a U.S. adversary (we’re as confused as you are). By the time 4 o’clock shows up, it’s a game of mad libs with bizarre conspiracies about the President’s family and then something about “wokeness” (we keep asking them what “wokeness” is, but then they leave the chat).
Apparently, this clown carousel wasn’t weird enough. Now House Republicans are channeling their frustrated energy into a measured and purposeful urge to impeach… someone… somewhere… for something.
CNN’s Manu Raju reported Tuesday, “Now, there has been growing pressure on the right flank of Kevin McCarthy’s conference to go ahead and move ahead with some sort of impeachment proceeding, whether it’s against Joe Biden or his cabinet officials like Alejandro Mayorkas of the Homeland Security Department or Merrick Garland.”
As the Washington Post headline read way back in September of last year: “‘Impeachable whatever’: GOP floats impeaching Biden for ... something.”
We’re sure they’ll figure that one out. And this time, it’ll work wonders! Just like their pursuit of manufactured conspiracy theories about the President for the past four years has… If not, they can always fall back on the breaking news that Joe Biden’s birthday still hasn’t changed. After all, that’s accomplished so much for them since they started deploying it in [checks notes] early 2019.
Republican leaders, responding to mounting calls from their right flank, seem to be shifting their focus from impeaching a member of Biden’s Cabinet to going after the president himself as he vies for reelection.
McCarthy indicated Tuesday that Republicans are digging into potentially incriminating details about the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and his business dealings with foreign companies — namely Burisma, the Ukrainian company at the center of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
Last month, the younger Biden reached a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses for failing to pay more than $100,000 in taxes owed from income of $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018, though the deal seemed in danger of falling apart Wednesday. The younger Biden has since settled his tax bill, but the outcome gives Republicans more cause to root around the family’s finances.
“You’ve got to get to the bottom of the truth,” McCarthy said Tuesday, advocating for the impeachment probe to unearth a smoking gun against the Biden family.
The White House has maintained that Biden hasn’t been involved with any of his son’s business dealings. And, in the memo, Bates mocked Republicans for appearing to not have any idea of the charges they are seeking to level against Biden: “Now House Republicans are channeling their frustrated energy into a measured and purposeful urge to impeach… someone… somewhere… for something.”
McCarthy is facing intensifying pressure from Trump-aligned Republicans in his factitious caucus to target Biden. But the push may not be embraced by moderate members who recognize the political risk of going after Biden, who seems likely to face Trump in a rematch in 2024.