GOP senators want nothing to do with Kevin McCarthy's impeachment plans: report

Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's plans to pursue the impeachment of President Joe Biden and members of his administration are being greeted with a cold-shoulder by his Republican Party counterparts in the U.S. Senate, reports Politico.

The California GOPer, whose bid to become the new House Speaker is not a sure thing, has been threatening to go after the president as well as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as he tries to round up enough votes among far-right members of his caucus, but Republicans in the Senate are pouring cold water on his plans, with at least one GOP senator dismissing his plans outright.

As Politico's Jordain Carney wrote, "While House GOP leaders feel intense pressure from their Donald Trump-aligned base and colleagues to impeach President Joe Biden or a top member of his Cabinet, many of the party’s senators want nothing to do with it," adding that any impeachment would die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

According to the report, key Republican senators are serving notice that they want nothing to do with any impeachment trials and that they believe they will be counterproductive and could hurt the party in 2024.

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"Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close ally of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said he 'hadn’t really given any thought' to impeaching Biden or a Cabinet official," the report states, noting that Cornyn added he sees no impeachable offenses that need to be taken up.

Senate GOP leadership member John Thune (R-SD) was more to the point, explaining, "I think there is a legitimate need for oversight … but, I mean, I think it needs to be focused on some specific areas.”

According to Politico's Carney, "It’s an ongoing pattern for Republican Senate leaders, who have mostly tried to avoid the pitfalls of Trump-related probes. WhileHouse GOP leadership has leaned hard into publicly pushing back onthe Democratic-run panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, their Senate counterparts have largely sidestepped tangling with the select committee."

Senior GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA) outright dismissed McCarthy's plans for the upcoming House session, telling Politico, "I can’t do anything about what the House does.”

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