The White House sent out a plea to journalists asking for assistance in fending off the House impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, issued a memo to editorial leadership at U.S. news organizations that insisted the time has come for the “media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.”
The memo argues that House Republicans “haven’t been able to turn up any evidence of the President doing anything wrong” and lists some comments from GOP officials expressing skepticism about the impeachment endeavor.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced the formal impeachment inquiry against Biden on Tuesday, noting that Republicans have uncovered “serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct — a culture of corruption.”
In a follow-up letter to colleagues, McCarthy outlined the various pieces of evidence GOP investigators have gathered over the past several months — including bank records and testimony — and announced a “special conference” with committee chairs on Thursday.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has been tasked with leading the impeachment effort with the help of Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO).
The trio sent out a joint statement on Tuesday that said House Republicans have “uncovered an overwhelming amount of evidence showing President Joe Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge and participation in his family’s influence peddling schemes.”
The White House has put together a “war room” composed of a couple dozen lawyers, legislative aides, and communications staffers to combat the GOP-led investigations. And Democrats in Congress quickly rallied behind the president after the impeachment inquiry got announced.
At a news conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declared “there is not a shred of evidence that President Joe Biden has engaged in wrongdoing.” He also said Democrats “will defend President Biden until the very end.”
Some in the media appear to be already embracing the idea that Republicans lack evidence warranting an impeachment inquiry. The New York Times, for instance, said, “Republicans have found no evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption by the president, but said they have received enough information to warrant more investigation.”
A reporter got into an exchange Tuesday with Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), who shared examples of what the House GOP has learned in the run-up to the impeachment inquiry. But the reporter insisted the “American people can’t see that. They think it’s political revenge,” to which Perry, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, replied: “Because you don’t report on it.”
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