President Biden on Wednesday claimed House Republicans already knew they wanted to impeach him, most likely because they want to shut down the government, in his first remarks since Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) moved to direct House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry.
“Well, I tell you what, I don’t know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me. Now, best I can tell they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government,” Biden said at a campaign reception in McLean, Va.
“Everybody always asked about impeachment. I get up every day not focused on impeachment, I’ve got a job to do. I’ve got to deal with issues that affect the American people every single solitary day,” Biden added before he moved on to talk to fundraiser attendees about a different subject.
The president also mentioned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), saying she wanted to impeach him on day one of his presidency.
The impeachment fight could be an issue as Congress and the White House battle over funding the government. Lawmakers face a Sept. 30 deadline to prevent a shutdown. And Greene threatened last month to not fund the government without an impeachment inquiry.
McCarthy’s formal endorsement of impeachment follows the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings. It has not found that the president directly financially benefited from his son’s business or proved that he made any policy decisions because of it.
The White House earlier Wednesday reiterated their stance that Republicans have turned up no evidence that the president did anything wrong.
“That is what we heard over and over again, from their almost yearlong investigation, and that’s because the president didn’t do anything wrong. Even House Republicans have said the evidence does not exist,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
