Last week, Speaker McCarthy announced he would direct three congressional committees to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden without holding a vote of the house and without a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden whatsoever.
Freedom Caucus member Ken Buck denounced the inquiry as a political stunt to damage the President ahead of the 2024 elections.
Washington Post (Opinion by Rep. Ken Buck): My fellow Republicans: One disgraceful impeachment doesn’t deserve another. “The House is back in session, and Americans are getting an up-close look at Washington’s dysfunction. We are barreling toward a government shutdown without making progress on cutting our out-of-control spending. Yet Republican leadership has decided to divert attention to an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The GOP’s charge against Biden is that he personally benefited from his son’s deplorable business exploits around the globe. Without doubt, Hunter Biden’s shady business deals undermined America’s image and our anti-corruption goals, and his conduct was thoroughly reprehensible. What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption.” [Washington Post (Opinion), 9/15/23]
Buck: “There Is Very Little Evidence That Links Hunter Biden With Joe Biden.” “There is very little evidence that links Hunter Biden with Joe Biden […] The theory, I guess, is Burisma paid money to Hunter Biden so that Joe Biden would fire Shokin because Shokin was investigating Burisma. One, there is little to no evidence Shokin was investigating Burisma. Two, Shokin was targeted by the European Union as well as our State Department to be fired because he was more corrupt than the people he was investigating. And three, there is very little to no evidence that suggests that Hunter Biden actually shared the money he got with Joe Biden so that Joe Biden would do something or that Joe Biden knew that Hunter Biden was getting money so that Joe Biden would take these acts.” [Tweet, Fox News: VIDEO, 9/17/23]
POLITICO: ‘Fictitious’ Facts And ‘Imagined’ History: GOP Rep. Ken Buck Slams Biden Impeachment Effort. “GOP Rep. Ken Buck, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, slammed his caucus and party’s efforts to impeach President Joe Biden as ‘relying on an imagined history.’… In an interview last Sunday, Buck suggested that ‘there is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president.’… But, on Thursday in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, he reverted to his previous stance: ‘I want to make sure we don’t ruin this institution over a tit-for-tat impeachment. If the evidence is there, Jake, I will absolutely vote for impeachment. I don’t see the evidence at this point.’” [POLITICO, 9/16/23]
Axios: GOP Rep. Buck Condemns His Party’s Impeachment Effort Against Biden. “Republicans ‘itching’ to impeach President Biden are ‘relying on an imagined history,’ Rep. Ken Buck wrote in an op-ed criticizing his own party and the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, of which he is a member… ‘Without doubt, Hunter Biden’s shady business deals undermined America’s image and our anti-corruption goals, and his conduct was thoroughly reprehensible. What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption,’ Buck wrote. Zoom in: It’s unclear that House Republicans have the 218 votes to impeach Biden, and some Republicans in both the House and the Senate are on record saying they don’t think there’s enough evidence to proceed, according to Axios’ Andrew Solender and Juliegrace Brufke.” [Axios, 9/16/23]
The Hill: Buck Turns Up Heat Against House Impeachment Inquiry Of Biden In Op-Ed. “He disapproved of Republican efforts made towards an impeachment inquiry against President Biden… The GOP, Buck argued, won’t be able to connect Biden to his ‘ne’er do well son’s corruption.’ Hunter Biden’s ‘shady business deals undermined America’s image,’ he wrote, but House Republicans won’t be able to find a smoking gun between Hunter Biden and his father. The impeachment inquiry comes from Republicans, who Buck claims, are “itching” but relying on an ‘imagined history.’” [The Hill, 9/16/23]
The New Republic: Republican Rep. Torches GOP for Lacking a Single Fact on Biden Impeachment. “Representative Ken Buck says he has yet to hear a single ‘accurate fact’ from his fellow Republicans about the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into the president Tuesday, after months of Republicans insisting Biden is guilty of corruption. The GOP has yet to produce any actual evidence of their claims… ‘We have to focus on spending, we have to make sure the government doesn’t shut down…I think taking this off the table and not having a distraction is a good move.’” [The New Republic, 9/15/23]
Daily Beast: GOP Rep. Blasts Impeachment Effort in Scathing Op-Ed. “GOP Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) penned a scathing assessment of his Republican colleagues’ efforts to impeach President Joe Biden, arguing their efforts are a baseless distraction based on a ‘narrative in right-wing media.’ In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, he said the government is headed for shutdown and Republicans are flailing in their efforts to adjust federal spending, instead wasting valuable time on a ‘flimsy excuse’ for an impeachment inquiry. The very basis of Republicans’ efforts to pursue impeachment is not based in reality, according to Buck, in perhaps the most drastic denunciation of impeachment by any House Republican thus far. ‘Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history,’ Buck wrote. ‘What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption.’” [Daily Beast, 9/15/23]