New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman suggested Donald Trump was a driving force behind House Republicans’ newly-launched impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
“He is certainly somebody who supports it, is behind it, has been talking about it,” Haberman told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday, noting that Trump has been discussing the subject both publicly and behind the scenes.
Under pressure from the far-right faction of his camp, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday announced he was directing House committees to launch a Biden impeachment inquiry.
“How aggressively he is pushing for it with McCarthy is an open question,” Haberman said of the former president’s role in the decision. “There’s no doubt that Trump ― and this is his style ― he’s sort of dropped something into the conversation, and Republicans take it up and it’s often offered as some kind of a suggestion.”
McCarthy had said earlier this month that the House wouldn’t open an impeachment inquiry without holding a vote. Lacking support from moderate Republicans, he went ahead on Tuesday without doing so.
The inquiry centers around allegations that Biden engaged in bribery and corruption in connection to his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. House Republicans have been investigating those claims for months, but have not produced evidence to substantiate them.
Publicly, Trump has repeatedly accused Biden of corruption and called for his impeachment.
Trump was impeached twice during his presidency, and acquitted both times by the Senate.
“Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform last month.
Politico reported Tuesday that the former president has been pushing for impeachment with influential House Republicans behind the scenes.
He has reportedly been speaking weekly with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and discussed the matter during a dinner at his New Jersey golf club with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) on Sunday.