Kevin McCarthy's impeachment trial balloon gets mixed reviews from Republicans (July 25, 2023)
www.nbcnews.com

... Speaker Kevin McCarthy's suggestion that the House would be justified in beginning an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over unproven claims of corruption is drawing strong pushback from Democrats and mixed reviews from Republicans.

McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News on Monday evening that the financial entanglements and criminal charges against Biden's son Hunter Biden could merit a formal inquiry into the president. He reiterated the sentiment in a fundraising message to supporters Tuesday.

"This is rising to the level of an impeachment inquiry," McCarthy wrote before he asked for a donation to his political operation. "I can promise you one thing. We WILL get answers to these questions. We will follow this ALL THE WAY TO THE END."

McCarthy's comments drew a blend of praise and skepticism from GOP colleagues, as he told reporters Tuesday that an inquiry wouldn't necessarily lead to impeachment. Far-right Republicans, who have been pressuring McCarthy to initiate an inquiry against the president, were pleased by his remarks " and sounded confident they would result in a House impeachment vote.

"He's right to do it," said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. "And I think at the end of the day, [Biden] will be impeached."

But other Republicans were hesitant about going down that road.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the unsubstantiated claims that Biden was supporting his son's attempt to use his name to pressure business associates would be significant if they are true.

"If they can prove that President Biden did have interactions about business dealings for Hunter Biden, that would be a game changer, because President Biden's denied having interaction regarding business dealings," Graham said.

"I don't know if that's true or not, but if that was true, that would definitely be a game changer," he said, while cautioning that impeachment "could" even help Biden politically.

"We'll see where it goes," he added. "It depends on the quality of the evidence."

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, said he has yet to see evidence that merits proceeding with impeachment, and he counseled Biden to be transparent as his best course of action.

"I haven't seen evidence at this stage. There may well be. But there's a lot of talk going on, and usually when there's a lot of talk of that nature, the best way to make it go away is by saying, hey, take a full look, here's the full disclosure," Romney said. "In my case, I was accused of not paying taxes. And so we put out 10 years of tax returns. OK, that made that go away." ...

I do note the multiple comments about ~where's any evidence~ here.