Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he will lead a House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president

Joe

Biden about his family’s business activities and initiated historic proceedings ahead of the 2024 elections.

McCarthy said the House Oversight Committee’s investigation so far has found a culture of corruption surrounding the Biden family, as Republicans investigate the business dealings of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, from before the Democratic president took office.

These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives, McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said outside the speaker’s office in the Capitol. “That’s why today I am directing our committee in the House of Representatives to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

The announcement comes as the Republican leader faces mounting pressure from his right flank to take action against Biden, while also struggling to pass legislation needed to end a federal government shutdown at the end of the month to prevent.

McCarthy plans to convene lawmakers behind closed doors several times this week, including for a meeting to discuss Biden’s impeachment.

The Republican leader once again finds himself at a political crossroads, trying to keep his most conservative legislature happy and avoid his own impeachment. It’s a familiar political situation for McCarthy, who combines the impeachment inquiry and the threat of a government shutdown without a clear endgame.

Biden’s impeachment puts vulnerable California Republicans in a difficult situation

The Biden White House has dismissed the impeachment proceedings as politically motivated.

Speaker McCarthy should not give in to the far-right members who are threatening to shut down the government unless they get a baseless, evidence-free impeachment of President Biden. The consequences for the American people are too serious, said White House spokesman Ian Sams.

The impeachment proceedings come as Trump, who was twice impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate, faces more serious charges in court. Trump has been indicted four times this year, including for trying to overturn the 2020 election that Biden won.

“This is a transparent attempt to boost Donald Trump’s campaign by creating a false moral equivalency between Trump, the fourth-term elected former president,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Republicans in the House of Representatives are investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings, but have so far produced no hard evidence

him those actions

and the chairman. They have shown a few examples, largely during the elder Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president, when he spoke to his son by phone and dropped by dinners his son hosted with business associates.

Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman who leads the Oversight Committee, is digging deeper into the Biden family’s finances and is expected to request Hunter Biden’s banking records as the panel tries to track the flow of money.

On Tuesday, Comer demanded that the State Department produce documents on the work Biden did as vice president during the Obama administration to clean up corruption in Ukraine. Comer wants to understand the State Department’s views on former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, whom Biden and many Western allies wanted to remove from office over corruption allegations.

The White House has insisted that Biden was not involved in his son’s business dealings. And Democrats on the Oversight Committee are stepping up the fight

in return for

what they consider baseless claims against Biden

ahead of the 2024 elections,

while the president wants to be re-elected.

This is because the federal government will run out of funding on September 30, which is the end of the federal budget year, and Congress must pass new funding bills or risk a shutdown and disruption of government services.

Conservatives in power

McCarthy’sMcCarty’s

The majority wants to cut spending, and the far right is unwilling to approve the spending levels that the speaker negotiated with Biden earlier this year.

McCarthy is trying to implement a 30-day stopgap measure to keep the government running until November 1, but conservatives are opposing what’s called a continuing resolution

or CR,

while pursuing cuts.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said late Monday as she left McCarthy’s office that she has “red lines” against any new money spent on COVID-19 vaccines or mandates or Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Another Republican, Matt Gaetz of Florida, a key Trump ally, warns that McCarthy could face a backlash from conservatives if he does not push hard for cuts.

Early in the year, Gaetz and other Republicans got deals from McCarthy as he struggled to win their votes to become Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Under House rules, McCarthy’s opponents can call a vote at any time to try to oust the speaker

from office

.