CNN anchor Anderson Cooper called out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's hypocrisy after unearthing a 2019 tweet in which McCarthy stated that the impeachment process would require a full vote in the House of Representatives before it could be formally pursued. Cooper's criticisms came after McCarthy announced he would launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden without any vote.
Back in 2019, McCarthy insisted that an impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump over Ukraine would require a full House vote, saying that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "can't decide on impeachment unilaterally."
McCarthy said the House "has voted three times on articles of impeachment" only for those efforts to fail and went on to accuse Democrats of being "all about politics" and "not about facts."
You can see McCarthy's tweet below.
Just two weeks ago, McCarthy made a similar assertion, stating in an interview with right-wing Breitbart News that an inquiry against President Joe Biden "would occur through a vote" on the House floor, as Cooper noted.
You can hear what Cooper said in the video below.
Anderson Cooper: After years of saying one thing, McCarthy is doing anotheryoutu.be
McCarthy's move to advance an impeachment inquiry against President Biden is seen as an attempt to placate far-right lawmakers who have threatened to remove McCarthy from his leadership position if he does not support their calls for significant spending cuts, which could result in a government shutdown by the end of the month.
McCarthy's hypocrisy was also pointed out by social media users.
McCarthy's decision to unilaterally declare the impeachment investigation without a formal vote in the House intertwines Republican efforts to scrutinize Biden with the ongoing funding dispute in Congress.
Under McCarthy's plan, three House committees—Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means—will be tasked with conducting the impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Republicans have been searching for evidence of financial misconduct or corruption by the president but have not yet produced concrete proof to support these claims. Nevertheless, they argue that they have gathered sufficient information to justify further investigation and appear intent on using this "impeachment inquiry" to find the supposed evidence that their partisan committees have yet to deliver.
