White House Musters ‘War Room’ For GOP-Led Biden Impeachment Probe 'Pushback’
© AFP 2023 / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
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Republicans have long been calling for an impeachment probe against the US president over a pay-to-play scheme that is alleged to have taken place when Joe Biden served as vice president in the Obama White House. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently reiterated that such an inquiry is a “natural step forward” when Congress returns after recess.
The looming prospect of a Republican impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has reportedly prompted the White House to assemble a “war room” comprising a pack of two dozen lawyers, legislative assistants, and communications staffers.
The WH counsel’s office has been gearing up for an “aggressive response” to the Republican-led House investigations into the Bidens for months, sources told a US media report. The strategy being hashed out in this war room is ostensibly tailored towards "pushing back" at the possible impeachment inquiry, aiming to shred it to pieces as no more than an unsubstantiated and bogus partisan inquiry.
“Comparing this to past impeachments isn’t apples to apples or even apples to oranges; it’s apples to elephants. Never in modern history has an impeachment been based on no evidence whatsoever,” one White House aide was cited as saying.
Another Biden team insider claimed the GOP impeachment inquiry being considered was “not an evidence-based," but rather an "election-focused effort.”
The so-called “response unit” has mustered for the effort defense attorney Richard Sauber, Russ Anello, ex-staff director of the House Oversight Committee, communications operative (ex-presidential campaign veteran) Ian Sams, and another communications expert, Sharon Yang. Incoming White House counsel, US lawyer Ed Siskel, formerly an Obama administration staffer, is also to be added to the team, the report stated.
The White House hopes to position Joe Biden as a president wholly focused on “economic issues that affect people’s lives,” while the GOP pushing for an impeachment inquiry would be cast as “out of touch,” according to a White House official.
Furthermore, some on the WH team allegedly think that the looming tussle ahead to extend government funding beyond the September 30 deadline to avoid a potential shutdown could also play into their hands. If the impeachment probe were to come against the backdrop of this spending tussle between the Democrats and the Republicans, Biden allies could to cast such developments as “instability and chaos” brought on by the GOP majority in the House.
“I wouldn’t say anybody here is rooting for that to happen, like, ‘Please impeach, because this is going to help us.’ But if they do it, if they go through with it, I think there are going to be political ramifications for the Republican Party,” a source said.
The White House war room is also purportedly banking on help from House Democrats, as well as outside groups. Regarding the latter, the Democratic Congressional Integrity Project group is said to be involved, as it commissions polls and monitors GOP statements, hoping to capitalize on any Republican Party divisions that manifest themselves.
Furthermore, Biden aides have reportedly been falling back on lessons learned from then-President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 as a “model” for an effective defense. Specifically, the fact that Bill Clinton wallowed in his highest approval rating of 73 percent in December 1998 (as per Gallup) – precisely as the GOP was considering articles of impeachment. Former President Donald Trump also enjoyed boosted popularity ratings during the first of his two impeachments, in February 2020.
White House aides have been “fine-tuning” a response to the potential impeachment inquiry throughout the August recess, scrutinizing a plethora of GOP statements, according to an insider. The US Senate is in recess until September 5, while the House is until September 12.
'High Crimes & Misdemeanors'
Ever since the Republicans narrowly won control over the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress, in last year’s November midterms, the White House began preparing for impeachment, the report added. However, those preparations took a more vigorous turn in August, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called a Joe Biden impeachment inquiry a “natural step forward.”
“If you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said in a US media interview on August 28, adding that an impeachment inquiry “provides Congress the apex of legal power to get all the information they need.”
McCarthy has been adamant that there is “a culture of corruption that’s been happening within the entire Biden family.”
In response, White House spokesperson Ian Sams pilloried McCarthy’s remarks on social media as a “crazy exercise rooted not in facts & truth but partisan shamelessness."
After the 2022 midterms, GOP lawmakers began a series of probes into the Biden family’s finances and potentially illegal dealings with foreign businesses. More recent damning Internal Revenue Service whistleblower testimony confirmed that First Son Hunter Biden and his business partners received $7.3 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma, ostensibly to shelter the latter from a probe into suspected money laundering, by pulling strings with Joe Biden. This only further fueled GOP calls for an impeachment inquiry.
31 August 2023, 01:20 GMT
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy underscored on September 1 that a House floor vote would determine whether an impeachment inquiry is opened against President Biden. At least 218 affirmative votes are needed for the probe to pass in the House, and if no Democrats vote in favor, while more than four Republicans also break ranks, then the measure would fail.
“To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives... That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person,” he added,” McCarthy told US media.
Since January, Republican lawmakers have introduced five resolutions seeking to impeach Joe Biden for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If such an inquiry were opened, the lower chamber would get the chance to subpoena witness testimony and documents related to its investigation. McCarthy indicated last week that an impeachment inquiry into Biden could be on the table after the House is back in session.
