Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is challenging Kevin McCarthy to sign a subpoena to compel Hunter Biden to testify before the House as the Florida congressman escalates his war with the president.
‘.@SpeakerMcCarthy, after eight months of inaction, I have taken the liberty of drafting a subpoena for Hunter Biden. This simply requires your date and signature. Millions of Americans are wondering if you’re serious,” Gaetz posted on X.
Tensions between Gaetz and McCarthy reach boiling point as Gaetz continues to threaten to oust the GOP leader from the president’s office.
McCarthy’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden did little to ease tensions.
Rep. Matt Gaetz wants President Kevin McCarthy to sign subpoena for Hunter Biden
The rivalry between McCarthy and Gaetz dates back to January, when McCarthy was trying to secure enough Republican votes to be president. To gain enough support from the conservative wing of the party, McCarthy granted their request to give them the opportunity to call for a quick vote to “vacate the chair” and remove him from office.
Gaetz threatened to use this power.
This week, the Florida Republican and other members of the House Freedom Caucus are angry over McCarthy’s plan to introduce a continuing resolution, known as a CR, to fund the government as the two parties negotiate a package of higher expenses.
Gaetz responded that laying a CR on the ground would be “shot, hunter” where it would immediately move to push the speaker out of their work.
“File the damn motion,” McCarthy said in response.
Gaetz and the conservatives could have the upper hand, however. McCarthy held a test vote Tuesday to see what kind of support he has within his own party in a vote on the budget. It failed.
The speaker put a massive defense spending bill to the vote. But five Republicans voted with Democrats on a procedural motion that killed the bill, endangering McCarthy’s plan to pass the CR.
This defense bill was one of 12 appropriations bills that Congress must pass to fund the government for the next fiscal year.
If neither a CR nor the 12 appropriations bills are passed before September 30, the government shuts down.
“I have a small group of members who don’t want to vote for CR, who don’t want to vote for individual bills and who don’t want to vote for an omni. I’m not really sure what they want,” the speaker told Punchbowl News earlier.
President Kevin McCarthy vowed to ‘never give up’
However, anything Republicans propose in the House will almost certainly be rejected by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
McCarthy has made it clear that he is fed up with the threats and antics of his own conservative wing. And their threats to remove him from office.
“I never stopped,” he wrote on X on Tuesday, posting a video of himself vowing to stay at work.
But if Republicans bypass their own conservatives, strike a deal with Senate Democrats, pass a budget and it is signed by Biden, the consequences could be disastrous for McCarthy.
“That would be the end of his term as president,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of the GOP’s conservative wing. “The ball is in Kevin’s court.”
Meanwhile, House Republicans continue their impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
The first hearing will take place on Thursday. House investigators issued a subpoena regarding Hunter’s bank records. But Gaetz challenges McCarthy to approve a subpoena for the president’s son to appear before Congress.
Republicans have accused Biden and his family of making millions from shell companies Hunter Biden created when his father was vice president. Hunter struck business deals with an energy company in Ukraine, received a discounted stake in a private equity firm in China and did consulting work for a Romanian real estate tycoon.
The president has denied any involvement in his son’s affairs. But Republicans say at least a dozen Biden family members may be involved in a scheme to financially benefit from Biden’s public office.
The GOP also claims Biden participated in at least 24 calls with Hunter’s business partners and was referred to as “the big guy” by Hunter’s business associates. And they say Joe Biden used pseudonyms to discuss his Ukraine-related activities with his son Hunter while he was vice president.
The White House has repeatedly denied that Biden committed any wrongdoing. The president himself has stated that he was not involved in any of Hunter’s business dealings.
Hunter Biden under investigation for overseas business deals
Some former Hunter associates, however, have testified that Joe Biden spoke to Hunter’s business associates, but the president’s defenders say it was a quick and merely cordial conversation, unrelated to any deal.
Joe Biden also used various private email addresses from which he sent, received, and sometimes forwarded government correspondence based on emails found on Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop.
“Robin Ware,” “Robert L. Peters,” and “JRB ware” were three pseudonyms used in emails regarding both official and family matters.
The White House says it’s common for public figures to use fake names.