Pelosi says McCarthy argument that she changed precedent on impeachment inquiries ‘hogwash’

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) argument that she changed the precedent on impeachment inquiries is “hogwash.” 

“That’s hogwash. I mean, it’s ridiculous, and I don’t know why the press keeps repeating it,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when asked about McCarthy’s claim. “The fact is, we said we were going to assign my … committee chairs, six of them to develop the facts, because you have act upon the facts.”

“We had a couple of weeks of doing that [acting upon the facts], a few weeks of doing that. Three or four weeks, we then prepared to bring the bill to the floor,” she continued, “They’ve had eight months of investigation, come up with nothing.”

McCarthy announced earlier this week he was moving to launch an official impeachment inquiry into President Biden without a vote on the House floor. His move has received some criticism of hypocrisy, after he pushed back against Pelosi launching an impeachment inquiry of former President Trump in the same manner in 2019. 

When asked Tuesday if he was being hypocritical, McCarthy said: “I’m not, because she changed the precedent.” 

Pelosi argued that House Republicans can’t blame their “impulsive” decision on her.

“Now, they’re trying to say, ‘Well we’re not going to have a vote because Nancy didn’t have a vote the first day. No, we had a vote, we were in preparation for a vote. … This is a big deal – an impeachment,” she said. “You have to do it with care and not on impulse, and until we had the case ready, that’s when we went forward.” 

“Don’t blame it on me. … Take responsibility for what you are doing there and don’t misrepresent the care that we took, the respect that we had for the institution, to go forward in a way that really addressed the high crimes and misdemeanors of Donald Trump,” the California Democrat argued.

House Republicans have embarked on a widespread investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, looking into his time on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was vice president.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s investigation has not found that Biden directly financially benefited from his son’s business dealings or proved that he made any policy decisions because of them.