McCarthy letter lays out five grounds for Biden impeachment probe: 'Public offices are not for sale'

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent colleagues a letter Tuesday evening laying out five grounds justifying the start of an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, ranging from making false statements to the American people to helping enrich his family by conducting meetings and phone calls that furthered his son's foreign business deals as vice president.

"Simply put, the American people deserve to know that public offices are not for sale and that the federal government is not being used to cover up the actions of a politically-connected family," McCarthy wrote in a "Dear Colleagues" letter sent just hours after he crossed the critical threshold of approving an inquiry into whether the House should pursue articles of impeachment.

You can read the full letter here.

Amid partisan howls and recriminations from congressional Democrats and the White House, McCarthy scheduled a meeting of the House GOP caucus for Thursday and laid out in plain, simple terms five justifications for the inquiry:

• Biden made false statements to the Americans public to get elected and since he took office, including denying his family did not get money from communist China when in fact it got millions
• The president facilitated his family's enrichment as Barack Obama's vice president by joining phone calls and meetings with his son Hunter's business associates. "Eyewitness testimony revealed that the President joined multiple phone calls and had various interactions with his son's business partners," he wrote.
• Biden presided over a family that collected nearly $20 million in foreign proceeds – some from oligarchs of concern to U.S. – and had more than 150 banking transactions flagged as suspicious.
• The FBI received information in 2020 – yet to be corroborated or debunked – that Biden was the beneficiary of a $10 million bribe from a Ukrainian company called Burisma Holdings that was under investigation for corruption and who had hired his son, The allegation is concerned because there also is evidence Biden "used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden's business partner about Hunter's role in Burisma" during a time when the former vice president withheld a $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee to force the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating. Burisma.
• Since becoming president, his administration has taken actions to thwart or minimize potential investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden on criminal charges, including a "sweetheart plea deal that President Biden's Department of Justice tried to sneak past the public" this summer before a judge rejected it.

McCarthy stressed that an inquiry is not a formal impeachment but rather a mechanism for determining in the future whether articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors are warranted.

"These allegations should concern every American, regardless of political party," McCarthy's letter declared. "Taken together, they paint a picture of a culture of corruption, obstruction, and abuse of power that rises to the level of formal investigation.

"House Republicans are committed to getting answers and finding the truth – nothing more, nothing less. We will go wherever the evidence takes us," he added.

The letter praised three House committee chairmen -- Reps. James Comer of the Oversight Committee, Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee and Jason Smith of the Ways and Means Committee -- for turning up significant evidence to justify an inquiry, including from two IRS whistleblowers and former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer.

"Under their leadership, especially over the course of the past five weeks, House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct, beginning as Vice President," the Speaker wrote.