House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stoked a firestorm online on Thursday by responding to a reporter's claim that he had begun an impeachment investigation "without evidence," as Fox News reported.
"AP reported that McCarthy's impeachment inquiry was launched ‘without evidence,’" GOP operative Arthur Schwartz posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about the incident.
AP reported that McCarthy's impeachment inquiry was launched "without evidence.” Here’s McCarthy forcing an AP reporter to admit that there was lots of evidence to support an impeachment inquiry. pic.twitter.com/lgzU1BNNlE
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) September 14, 2023
The Video Clip
Farnoush Amiri, a reporter for the Associated Press, can be heard in the footage asking McCarthy about his Republican colleagues who have indicated that the inquiry investigating President Biden has not shown any impeachable crime.
"Is that an assessment you share?" Amiri asked.
"You know, an impeachment inquiry is not an impeachment," McCarthy responded, "What an impeachment inquiry is to do is to get answers to questions. Are you concerned about all the stuff that was recently learned?"
McCarthy then ran through a series of incidents that have been seen by some as proof of presidential malfeasance.
"Do you believe the president lied to the American public when he said he'd never talked to his son about his business dealings?" McCarthy asked, "Yes or no?"
"I can't answer that," Amiri replied.
McCarthy Proving His Point
"Do you believe when they said the president went on conference calls? Do you believe that happened?" McCarthy asked.
"That's what the testimony says," Amiri answered.
"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?"
"That's what the testimony said," Amiri answered.
"Do you believe Hunter Biden, when you saw the video of him driving the Porsche, that he got $143,000 to buy that Porsche the next day? Do you believe that $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?" McCarthy asked.
The House speaker asked the journalist if she believed the president had lied, to which she responded, "But is lying an impeachable offense?"
"All I'm saying is I would like to know the answer to these questions," McCarthy said. "The American public would like to know."
Conservatives on social media quickly picked up on the tape and used it to attack the claims of many on the left that there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of President Biden or his family.
