Under pressure from former President Donald Trump and the far-right flank of his party, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and GOP leadership are considering a bid to impeach President Joe Biden — although the exact details of what they would impeach him for, and the credibility of the evidence, is murky at best.
But the problem for House Republicans, CNN correspondent Manu Raju reported on Tuesday evening, is that many of the most vulnerable members appear opposed to the whole thing.
"First thing I thought of when I heard this was, what do moderate Republicans who come from districts that President Biden won think about this?" asked anchor Kaitlan Collins. "I mean, the idea that they could be forced to vote on this, I imagine is not sitting well with them."
"Yeah, they are squeamish at the moment, uncertain about whether to go forward," said Raju. "And that is something the Speaker himself knows full well, that he will have to allow these members to get behind this effort because ultimately this could hurt them, some of them fear, in their campaigns. One congressman, Don Bacon, told me that they have not yet made the case to impeach or at least open up an official impeachment inquiry against the president just yet."
"I don't know that we've made the case for a formal impeachment inquiry yet. But I do want the committee digging into this," Bacon (R-NE) told Raju in a clip. "I think the facts we're seeing are alarming. But I'd rather do it in a very thorough, conscientious way." Other GOP members, however, are more strident, with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) telling Raju, "If it's not accountability now for the highest office holder in the land, when is it going to be? At the end of the day he will be impeached."
"And remember, Kaitlan, that Speaker McCarthy cannot lose more than four Republican votes on any party-line vote, especially an impeachment vote," said Raju. "And with so many members in difficult races, that will be complicated to do. So the longer this drags out, and if it goes into an election year, this makes his calculus even more complicated as he tries to hang on to his majority. And a clear case in point here, Kaitlan, I asked Mike Lawler, who's a freshman New York Republican in a difficult race, about this, about whether he supports going forward with an inquiry. He didn't want to even respond to the questions. He walked right by the camera."
Watch the video below or at the link.
Manu Raju says vulnerable Republicans are "squeamish" about Biden impeachmentwww.youtube.com
