'They don't want to be voting on impeachment': Vulnerable GOPers fearful about party's latest vendetta

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has battled with his Republican colleagues over whether to start the process of impeachment against President Joe Biden for months.

Earlier this month, the GOP leader rejected United States Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) and Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Georgia) resolution to begin the process, but now the Speaker has voiced his consideration towards an impeachment inquiry to appease the MAGA lawmakers.

In conversation with MSNBC's Jen Psaki Sunday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) blasted McCarthy, saying, "What concerns me is I think McCarthy may open an impeachment inquiry because he thinks it will let off the steam with the crazies in this conference. But by doing it, he is gonna 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 do I keep my speakership for another day, maybe another week?' He's not thinking about what he's doing to the country, which has I think, really devastated the country, these kinds of faux-investigations and this potential abuse of the impeachment power."

Later, during ABC's This Week Sunday segment, host Jonathan Karl interviewed NPR White House Correspondent Asma Khalid for her thoughts on the matter.

Karl said, "Kevin McCarthy coming out and — I mean, it's interesting — he seemed to kind of walk it back. At the beginning of the week he said, 'We're going towards an impeachment inquiry,' and now he seems to be saying, 'Well, maybe if nothing else works out.' What's going on?"

Khalid replied, "I would say look at the fact you have 18 House Republicans who represent districts that Biden won in 2020. They don't want to be voting on impeachment as you head into a reelection cycle. They'd much rather be talking about issues around, say the economy, which some Republicans think is a real liability still for this White House. I would say it's just the fact that McCarthy seems to be constantly tugged between the Republican base of his party that wants to pull on culture war issues and would love to go after Biden on impeachment, and some of the real practical folks within his party who realize this is not a meaningful proposition."