donald trump is calling on his top allies in Congress to press for details on his plans to impeach President Joe Biden and top administration officials, two sources with knowledge of the talks say Rolling Stone.
Specifically, Trump in recent months has repeatedly asked “how many” times Republicans plan to impeach the president if they take control of the House, the sources said. Also, the sources said, he asked what they would do to impeach certain high-ranking officials in the Biden administration. Trump’s questions have touched on possible timelines for any potential impeachment inquiry, as well as how much support impeachment has at the GOP conference.
The former president’s question of “how many” times Republicans intend to impeach Biden may be related to Trump’s dubious record: he is the only US president to have been impeached twice, once for trying to use military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country officials. to investigate Hunter Biden and a second time for instigating riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump’s ongoing talks with allies on Capitol Hill reveal his continued influence over the Republican caucus, as well as the power he will wield if Republicans win enough seats in Tuesday’s midterm elections to take over the House. But his interest in impeachment creates a potential sticking point between him and the Republican leadership in Congress, as top Republican lawmakers have reservations about the political wisdom of trying to put Biden on trial.
Kevin McCarthy, the leading candidate for House speaker if Republicans retake the House, has said privately that a serious impeachment of Biden would likely be bad policy for the GOP, according to two people familiar with the matter. McCarthy, people say, has signaled that impeaching Biden risks boosting his approval rating. In an October interview with the Punchbowl News, McCarthy downplayed the possibility of impeachment but did not rule it out.
“When we got the majority, the Clinton impeachment drained a lot of the momentum that could have gone into making policy,” says former Congressman Jack Kingston, who also advised Trump and acted as his surrogate during his presidency. “I don’t think working to impeach a president who is going to be a lame duck this time next week would be a good expenditure of money.” [Republicans’] weather.”
Trump himself has asked about the potential political dangers of impeachment in his talks with lawmakers. “The [former] The president definitely said that Biden deserves it, but also asked if it would even ‘work’ and if impeachment would be good for [Biden’s] surveys,” says one of the sources, recalling a conversation that took place in the last three months.
Spokespeople for Trump and McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment.
Other MAGA lawmakers, however, have said that impeaching Biden and his administration is critical to the party if he takes control of the House.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) promised this week that Republicans would impeach Biden and administration officials. “This is what’s going to happen,” she wrote on Twitter, with a link to an article about the impeachment of Biden. “Any member of the Republican Party who weakens on this will deeply disappoint our country.”
In September, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told Steve Bannon that Republicans should prioritize investigations and impeachment if they take the House. “If we don’t engage in impeachment investigations to get the documents, testimony and information that we need, then I think our voters will feel betrayed and that could probably be the biggest victory Democrats could hope for in 2024 when it really matters to investigate them. and hold them accountable,” Gaetz said. (When asked if Trump had discussed impeachment with him, Gaetz responded through a spokesman: “Representative Gaetz does not discuss his conversations with President Trump with Rolling Stone.”)
Regardless of how top Republicans feel, the party’s voters are interested in impeachment. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll found that more than two-thirds of Republican voters believe their party should use control of the House to impeach Biden. And with a hungry voter base and an open presidential primary looming, some of Trump’s potential rivals for the nomination are likely to take the call.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested in January that Biden could be impeached, arguing that Democrats have “rigged” the case against Trump and that the GOP could return the favor. On his podcast, Cruz said that Biden had potentially committed impeachable crimes, including with his policies on the US-Mexico border, the Texas Tribune reported. “That’s probably the strongest reason right now for impeachment,” Cruz said, “but there may be others.”
