Schiff says McCarthy floating Biden impeachment to deal with ‘craziest’ Republicans in conference

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is floating an impeachment inquiry into President Biden to deal with the “craziest” Republicans in his conference.

“But what concerns me is, I think McCarthy may open an impeachment inquiry because he thinks it will lead off the steam with the craziest in this conference,” Schiff said on “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “But by doing it he is going to set a train in motion that he may not be able to stop. And, of course, McCarthy isn’t thinking ahead. He’s thinking, how I keep my speakership for another day, maybe another week.”

McCarthy said last week he expected the House GOP’s investigations into the foreign business activities of Biden’s family would rise to the level of an impeachment inquiry. Democrats and a handful of Republicans have criticized his comments, with some members of his conference saying an impeachment inquiry would serve as a distraction.

Schiff, who served as the House impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment trial, noted Sunday that it was unclear whom the House GOP wanted to impeach or what they would impeach Biden for, pointing to GOP members who have discussed impeaching Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland and now Biden. He also added that these “kind of faux investigations and this potential abuse of the impeachment power” are “devastating” to the country.

“I mean, for a long time it didn’t appear clear that they even knew who they wanted to impeach,” he said. “You know, did they want to impeach [Alejandro Mayorkas] or maybe Merrick Garland, or maybe Joe Biden, or maybe somebody else.”